By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - The number of residential properties sold in Turkey dropped 1.3 percent year-on-year to reach 646,032 in the first six months of 2018, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Thursday.
Some 298,877 houses were sold for the first time from January to June while the rest were second-hand sales, TurkStat reported.
The number of new mortgages slipped in the first half of this year -- down by 18 percent to 210,805 compared to the same period last year.
House sales with mortgages took a 31 percent share of all house sales in Turkey. Currently, the mortgage rate for 120 months is between 1.3 percent and 1.8 percent per month.
- Sales to foreigners
The number of properties sold to foreigners surged by 23 percent during the same period. A total of 11,944 houses were sold to foreigners between January and June.
Istanbul, the country's largest city by population, enjoyed the lion's share of those sales to foreigners, with 33 percent (or 3,999 units).
Following Istanbul, the holiday resort city of Antalya came in second with 2,883 properties, while the northwestern province of Bursa ranked third with 812.
The figures showed that Iraqis topped the list of buyers with 1,987 properties, followed by Saudis (1,087 units), Iranians (944), Russians (815) and Afghans (719).
- Sales figure for June
A total of 119,413 houses changed hands in June, up by 22.4 percent compared to the same month last year.
House sales to foreigners also saw an increase of 7 percent year-on-year and reached to 2,060 units in the month.
TurkStat will release its next property sales report -- for July -- on Wednesday, August 15.