The number of Turkish residential properties sold to foreigners increased by 32.4 percent in February compared to the same month of the last year, the national statistical body said yesterday.

According to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data, 1,729 houses were sold to foreigners in February, of which 604 were in Istanbul, followed by 415 in Antalya, 134 in Bursa, 84 in Yalova and 71 in Trabzon.

Most of the house sales were made to Iraqi citizens, who bought 308 houses in Turkey. They were followed by Saudi buyers with 178, Russian buyers with 128, Iranian citizens with 122 and Afghan citizens with 118 purchases.

Overall, 95,953 houses were sold in February, down by 5.4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, TurkStat added.

Istanbul had the highest share in sales with 16.9 percent, corresponding to some 16,247 properties. It was followed by Ankara with 9,686 (10.1 percent) and İzmir with 5,965 (6.2 percent) houses sold.