The number of property sales to foreigners in Turkey rose five-fold in April on an annual basis, the country’s statistical authority revealed Wednesday.
Foreigners bought 4,077 properties in the month, up 416% year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said in a statement. This April figure was also up from 3,720 in April 2019 before the pandemic.
Total residential property sales in the country saw an increase of 124% during the same period.
A total of 95,863 houses changed hands last month, up from 42,783 in April 2020. Despite the significant rise, the figure was not able to overtake the pre-pandemic level of April 2019.
Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city by population, was the top location with 2,009 sales last month to foreigners, followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya with 859 and the capital Ankara with 228.
The largest share of house sales went to Iranians, with 557 units in the month, followed by Iraqis with 546 and Russians with 402.
In January-April, housing sales hit 358,913, while some 383,821 houses were sold in the same period last year.
TurkStat said house sales to foreigners rose 19% on an annual basis to 13,964 in the first four months of this year.