Housing sales in Türkiye rebounded in February after a decline in sales in January and an overall fall registered last year, jumping by nearly 17% compared to the same month in 2023, the official data showed on Thursday.

The sales rose 17.3% in February from a year earlier to 93,902 units despite a hike in interest rates in recent months, even as sales to foreigners tumbled by 44.9%, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

Istanbul had the lion's share in the month with 17.4% or 16,344 units in February, followed by the capital Ankara with 8,300 units and the Aegean province Izmir with 5,168 units or 8.8% and 5.5% of the total sales, respectively.

In the January-February period, house sales in the country dropped by 2% to some 174,210 units, the data also showed.

The mortgaged house sales decreased by 49.1% in February compared to the same month of the previous year and stood at 8,827, TurkStat said. These sales accounted for a 9.4% share of all house sales.

The sales to foreigners which saw a significant drop in February were recorded at 1,846 or 2% of all the sales in the stated period.

The data showed that Istanbul ranked first with 691 sales to foreigners, followed by the Mediterranean province of Antalya with 659 house sales and southern Mersin province with 151 house sales.

Russians were again the biggest foreign buyers, purchasing 395 homes in February, reflecting demand for a financial haven in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions.

Iranian citizens followed Russian citizens with 200 residences bought, Iraqis with 112 residences and Ukrainians with 105.

In the first two months of the year, home sales to foreigners decreased by 48.0% compared to the same period a year earlier to 3,907, as per data.

Meanwhile, new house sales increased by 21.8% in February compared to the same month in 2023 and became 28,594.

The secondhand house sales also increased by 15.5% last month compared to the same month of the previous year to 65,308.