Turkish real estate market has hit a major stumbling block as housing sales across the country experienced a significant decline in September, marking the sharpest drop in the past two years. The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) has released its housing sales statistics for September, revealing a 9.5% decrease in property sales compared to the same month last year, with a total of 102,656 properties sold.
From January to September of this year, housing sales in Turkey saw a considerable decrease of 14.9%, resulting in a total of 900,074 property sales during this period.
House sales, September 2023
In September, Istanbul led the way in housing sales with 15,247 transactions, holding a 14.9% share of the total sales. Following closely, Ankara recorded 9,048 property sales with an 8.8% share, while Izmir saw 5,476 sales, making up 5.3% of the total. On the other end of the spectrum, the provinces with the lowest property sales were Ardahan (47 properties), Hakkari (55 properties), and Bayburt (77 properties).
Meanwhile, sales of properties to foreign buyers also experienced a significant downturn, declining by 42% in September compared to the same month last year, resulting in a total of 2,930 properties sold. These sales to foreign buyers made up 2.9% of the total property sales for the month.
In September, the highest number of properties sold to foreign buyers went to Antalya with 1,007 properties, followed by Istanbul with 978 properties and Mersin with 211 properties. From January to September, foreign property sales in Turkey experienced a 43.5% decline, with a total of 28,064 properties sold.
Russian citizens topped the list of foreign property buyers, with 722 properties purchased in September, followed by Iranian buyers with 327 properties, Iraqi buyers with 191 properties, and German buyers with 148 properties.