In the first half of the year, the number of Russian citizens who wanted to buy real estate property in Turkey increased 2.8 times compared to the same period last year, the Russian language daily, Kommersant reported yesterday,
Citing market research by the real estate site Prian.ru, Kommersant said the popularity of Turkish real estate among Russians jumped from fourth to second place in a year. In addition to Russians, citizens from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia also show a lot of interest in the Turkish real estate market.
Anastasiya Faley, an analyst at Prian.ru, said currency volatility and the decreasing value of the Turkish lira is one of the reasons for the rise in the demand of Turkish properties.
Turkish government's decision to decrease the limit for citizenship by investment from $1 million to $250,000 in September 2018 also helped trigger interest in the country's real estate properties, Faley said. Turkey manager of Tranio.ru, another Russian real estate consultancy website, Maria Jaraya, pointed out that apartments, the prices of which vary from 80,000 to 100,000 euros ($90,000 to $113,000), see high demand. "It is impossible to find a good property in Europe for similar prices; thus, the Turkish market is very attractive for investors," she said. Turkey's property market saw its best May ever in real estate sales to foreigners across the country. What's more, the market has hit all-time figures in sales to foreign buyers during each month since the beginning of the year.
Sales to foreign buyers jumped by 62.5 percent last month to some 3,925 units, up from 2,415 units in May 2018. As for the January-May period, purchases by foreign residents surged significantly, from 9,756 to 17,263, an increase of 77 percent, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Earlier, foreigners acquired some 3,168 units in January, 3,321 units in February, 3,129 units in March and 3,720 units in April, a year-on-year increase of 81.9 percent, 92.1 percent, 71.3 percent and 82.1 percent, respectively. All four months saw all-time high figures.
The country's most populous city, Istanbul, has continued to be the top choice for foreign buyers. Residential property sales to foreigners in the city last month skyrocketed by 103 percent year-on-year to 1,734, compared to just 854 in May last year.
As it was the case recently, Istanbul was followed by the holiday resort city of Antalya, where foreigners purchased some 850 houses in May. It was followed by the capital of Ankara with 216, Bursa with 187, Yalova with 136 and Muğla with 109 units sold.
The ranking is almost the same in the January-May period; Istanbul was still the top choice with 7,894, followed by Antalya with 3,425, Ankara with 977, Bursa with 878, Yalova with 688 and Sakarya with 520 houses sold.
