Residential property Sales in Turkey jumped 25.1% year-over-year in January, official the data showed on Friday, but fell from the extremely high level a month earlier.
Sales jumped to 88,306 properties in January, said the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Total sales in December had climbed 113.7% year-over-year at 226,503, the data showed.
Reading of last reflected month last yearthe low base effect caused by the coronavirus pandemic when sales were good below historical averages, according to industry analysts. Sales were thus more 60% lower than in December.
“Due to restrictions and weak sales during the pandemic, we have a weak base effect. Turkey Monthly Average house sales are around 100,000 to 110,000 units,” said Makbule Yönel Maya, general manager of the property appraisal company TSKB.
According to the central bank data, new house prices jumped 67% year-on-year in December. Official data for January showed consumer prices rose 48.69% annually, a 20-year high. the government pledged to act and pledged to protect households against skyrocketing prices.
“We have several reasons for weakening demand: high inflation, soaring house high mortgage prices and rates. people stop investing in houses,” Maya said.
Monthly mortgage rates for new houses are close to 2% among private banks.
Istanbul, the largest in Turkey city by population had the highest share with 17.1%, or 15,110, house Sales in January, followed by the capital Ankara with 9.3%, or 8,255, and the Aegean province of Izmir with 6.2%, or 5,486.
Data showed January mortgage sales jumped 69.4% from a year earlier at 18,183.
Property sales had accelerated amid depreciation in turkish lira, with the authorities prosecuting the new economic policy of low interest rates to boost credit, exports and investment, saying it would be help the country weather inflation.
For support the drivethe center of Turkey bank had brought down the reference policy rate per 500 points since September at 14% but interrupted the easing cycle in January and kept the one- rest week rate unchanged this week again.
In 2021 in son together, total house sales fell 0.5% to around 1.49 million properties, with mortgaged sales down 49%.
The lira has been broadly stable since start of the year following 44% decline in 2021. It traded down 0.3% to 13.63 against United States dollar like of 3:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT) on Friday and watched a weekly decline of 0.8%.
Builder touts land sales
Buyers suspending their investments in houses due to soaring inflation, one grand builder offers land buyers instead of homes like a novel way for Turks to invest in real domain.
Against the background of the climb in house Sales in the last part of 2021, the sector now has run out of steam like property prices soared well above headline inflation. Like a result, property developer La Nef turned to selling land as an alternative for investors.
“Turkish people always treat real domain like best investment instrument. But it’s getting harder and harder for many Turks to afford a house. It is therefore a cheaper and more cost-effective alternative,” said Nef Chairman Erden Timur.
Timur said the per square meter price of The land of Nave project in Çanakkale in northwestern Turkey region had risen to 1,500 TL ($110) from 800 TL lira five months ago.
“Invest in Earth instead of a house is a cheaper alternative,” he told Reuters. “You can build ton house when you have more moneyou just expect for some time and sell your land to make a profit.
Given strong demand, Nef will invest additional TL 3.4 billion in their land businesshe said.
Sales to foreigners up over 55%
At the same time, sales to foreigners maintained an upward trend and climbed 56.5% year-over-year in January to 4,186 properties.
Some 4.7% of all sales in January were made to strangers, the data showed.
Istanbul enjoyed the lion share of sales to foreign buyers, with 1,771 units. The Mediterranean holiday appeal city of Antalya followed with 914 properties, while Ankara came third with 269.
Among foreign nationals, Iranians bought the most homes with 761, followed by Iraqis with 513 and Russians with 479.
Property sales to foreign buyers were strong throughout 2021 and exceeded the annual level threshold of 50,000 units for the first time until November even before the year-to finish.
Sales completed in 2021 with a 43.5% year-over-year increase up to hit 58,576 units. The previous year record has been set in 2019 when 45,483 houses were sold to foreigners in 12 months.
