The number of residential properties sold in Turkey increased by 42.4 percent in July on a year-on-year basis, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said Thursday.

According to TurkStat data, 115,869 houses changed hands in July. More than 30 percent of the sales were made in Turkey's three largest cities – Istanbul with 18,063 units, Ankara with 11,669, and Izmir with 6,509.

Mortgage sales increased by 62.4 percent year-on-year and reached 38,575 units, with a share of 33.3 percent in total house sales.

Sales of newly-constructed properties also soared reaching 53,949 sold units, a 42.6 percent increase from last year. Second-hand sales increased by 42.3 percent to 61,920 units.

The number of properties sold to foreigners surged by 65.3 percent year-on-year to 1,726 houses. The most attractive cities for foreign real estate investors were Istanbul, the Mediterranean holiday resort city of Antalya, and northern Black Sea province of Trabzon.