Foreigners' interest in houses up 16 pct in February

The attraction of residential property in Turkey to foreign buyers continued to increase in February despite the recent terrorist attacks in the country, as purchases rose 15.8 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) yesterday.

Of the 1,585 total residential properties sold to foreigners in February, Iraqi citizens topped the list with 365 properties bought, followed by Kuwaitis with 159, Saudis with 158 and Afghans with 141 properties bought. Interestingly, despite the political tensions that arose between Turkey and Russia due to the downing of a Russian military jet last November, Russians came in high at number five on the list, purchasing 88 residential properties in Turkey in February.

Total residential property sales also increased 7 percent in February compared to the same month last year. Among overall residential property sales in February, Istanbul had the highest share of total sales with 18,142 sales, amounting to 17.8 percent, followed by Ankara with 10.5 percent and İzmir with 6.4 percent.

Also, 30,455 mortgaged residential property sales were conducted throughout Turkey, and saw a 17.6 percent decline compared to the same month of the previous year. Residential property sales with a mortgage composed a 29.9 percent share of the total residential property sales in Turkey. Other residential property sales in Turkey totaled 71,248, a 22.7 percent increase for the same month on the previous year.