The number of property sales in Turkey rose 5.1 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, the country's statistical authority TurkStat said on Friday.

House sales in 2017 exceeded the record from 2016, as more than 1.409 million residential properties were sold last year, while the figure was 1.341 million units in 2016.

Last year, Istanbul – Turkey's largest city by population and one of its top tourist draws – had the largest share of house sales with 16.9 percent, or 238,383 houses.

TurkStat said Ankara and the Aegean province of Izmir racked up 150,561 (10.7 percent) and 84,184 (6 percent) of total housing sales, respectively.

However, house sales decreased by 6.8 percent in December 2017, compared to the same month of the previous year, and stood at 132,972 units.

For house sales in December 2017, Istanbul had the highest share with 17.2 percent and 22,932 properties sold.

It was followed by Ankara with 12,868 and Izmir: 8,305, of 9.7 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.

"In Turkey, 473,099 of all sales were mortgaged sales and 936,215 were other house sales," the institute said.

Some 838,000 houses or 59.4 percent were bought by men, and about 409,500 houses or 29.1 percent were bought by women, TurkStat said, while over 29,000 houses or 2.1 percent were bought jointly by women and men.

House sales to foreigners up 22.2 percent

Official data showed that property sales to foreigners in Turkey rose 22.2 percent year on year in 2017.

"In house sales to foreigners, Istanbul was the number one province with 8,182 sales in 2017," TurkStat said.

The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya was number two, with 4,707 sales to foreigners, followed by Bursa with 1,474 and Yalova with 1,079.

TurkStat data said the largest number of house sales by nationality went to Iraqis, who bought 3,805 houses in 2017, followed by Saudis with 3,345, Kuwaitis with 1,691, Russians with 1,331 and Afghans with 1,078.

In December 2017, 2,164 houses were sold to foreigners, with Istanbul leading the way with 802, followed by Antalya with 378, Bursa with 188 and Yalova with 141.

In December, Iraqi citizens bought 418 houses in Turkey, followed by Saudis with 271, Kuwaitis with 151 and Russia 129.

TurkStat will release its next property sales report on Feb. 21.