Foreigners from a number of countries, with Arabs taking the lead, are buying real estate in the eastern Black Sea region, which comes to the fore with tableland tourism.

Attracting real estate investors particularly from the Gulf, a total of 2,842 houses were sold to foreigners with an increase of 155 percent from 2016.

According to information derived from the Trabzon Land Registry Regional Directorate, there has been a great increase in the number of houses purchased by foreigners in the eastern Black Sea region -- where Trabzon, Artvin, Rize, Gümüşhane, Bayburt and Giresun are located.The number of houses sold to foreigners in the region soared to 2,842 at the end of 2017 from 1,112 in 2016, increasing more than 150 percent.

Trabzon, Rize and Giresun took the lead as the greatest number of houses was sold to foreigners in these three provinces.From 2016 to 2017, the number of houses sold to foreigners rose to 2,754 from 1,075 in Trabzon, to 45 from 25 in Giresun, to 41 from 11 in Rize and to two from one in Artvin.

The number of houses sold to foreigners in Trabzon surged to 1,492 in 2017 from 976 in 2016. Saudis have purchased 1,770 houses in Trabzon so far, coming to the fore among other foreigners.

According to the data obtained from Trabzon Land Registry Regional Directorate, from 2016 to 2017, houses bought by Saudis rose to 1,770 from 784, Kuwaitis to 515 from 154, United Arab Emirates to 86 from 11, Qataris to 59 from 17 and Jordanians to 54 from 11.

The registry's Regional Director Adnan Cevher stated that there has been a significant increase in real estate properties owned by foreigners from 2016 to 2017 and a total of 2,754 houses and 351 parcels were bought by foreigners in Trabzon in 2017.