UPDATE WITH COMMENTS FROM EXPERT
By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - Property sales to foreigners in Turkey more than doubled on an annual basis in November, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced on Thursday.
Some 89,626 houses were sold in Turkey, marking a 27 percent yearly decrease, according to TurkStat.
Foreigners bought 4,672 properties in the month, up 117.1 percent year-on-year.
Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population, was the top location with 1,922 sales in November to foreigners, followed by the resort city of Antalya (797) and the northwestern province of Bursa (301).
The largest share of house sales went to Iraqis, with 1,003 units in the month, followed by Iranians with 463, Afghans and Russians with 261, and Saudis with 233, said TurkStat.
In the first 11 months of this year, some 1.24 million houses changed hands, while some 1.28 million houses were sold in January-November 2017.
The next data on this subject will be released on Jan. 16, 2019.
Melih Tavukcuoglu, head of the Contractors’ Association on Istanbul's Asian side, said the surge in Turkey's house sales to foreigners is "not surprising".
"The regulation on easing the requirements for foreigners to acquire Turkish citizenship, the Turkish lira's weakness against other currencies, VAT exemption to foreigners helped spur the sales," Tavukcuoglu said.
He added that Turkish construction firms ramped up advertisements abroad as "the domestic market narrowed".
Noting that the interest rates for housing loans are high in Turkey, Tavukcuoglu said people tend to delay purchasing properties.
"2019 will be the year of depleting stocks of houses. The number of houses to be constructed next year will lessen due to high costs and the decrease in sales," he added.