Around 7 million houses have been sold in Turkey over the course of the last five years, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported Sunday.

According to the article, based on data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK), locals bought 6.9 million houses while foreigners purchased 154,871 residences.

The data also showed that between September 2015 and 2020, the year 2017 saw the highest sales. In that year, 1.4 million houses were sold while the year 2015 saw 1.29 million residences being purchased.

The sales recorded an increase in 2016 as 1.34 million houses were bought.

The years 2018 and 2019 saw similar numbers of houses being purchased with 1.38 million and 1.35 million residences bought respectively.

As banks decreased their interest rates in 2019 prominently, 1.02 million homes switched owners in only a matter of eight months.

Most residences sold in Istanbul, Ankara

Istanbul, as the biggest city in Turkey, saw the highest house sales in the last five years, indicating a sale of 1.2 million residences being sold as Ankara followed with 720,124, Izmir with 412,488, Antalya with 313,735 and Bursa with 265,715.

Many Anatolian provinces have seen over 50,000 houses sold each in the last five years in metropolitan areas.

Muğla, Diyarbakır and Denizli provinces were the top sellers.

Foreigner interest in Turkish homes increase

Foreigners have been interested in buying a property in Turkey for the last five years, as they purchased nearly 155,000 residences.

Foreigners’ favorite spot for house purchases has been Istanbul with 61,734 residences being sold, followed by Antalya, Bursa, Yalova, capital Ankara and Sakarya.

Iraqis have become the biggest buyers of Turkish property since January 2015, purchasing over 30,000 residences. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait followed Iraq’s lead, with each group purchasing at least 10,000 residences.

The first eight months of 2020 have seen increasing interest by the Chinese, who bought 575 houses in the January-August period and moved to the eighth rank among foreigners buying the most property.

Foreign residential sales showed a rapid increase in the last year due to the high exchange rate and legislative amendments that eased the minimum requirements for acquiring Turkish citizenship, which has led investors from all over the world to benefit from this opportunity and acquire residential property in the country

Under regulations introduced on Sept. 19, 2018, foreigners who own real estate in Turkey worth a minimum of $250,000 – down from $1 million – are eligible for Turkish citizenship.

According to the Interior Ministry's General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs, some 2,611 foreign buyers became Turkish citizens a year after the amendments were introduced.