Foreign property buyers flocking to Turkey

Nearly 10,000 foreigners bought a property in Turkey during the first quarter of this year – the best first quarter foreign buyer sales figures on record.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, a total of 9,618 houses were sold to foreigners in the first three months of this year. This is an increase of 81.5 per cent on the 5,298 Turkey property purchases made by foreigners in the same period last year.

In March alone, foreign residential sales in Turkey surged by 71.3 per cent over the same month the previous year, increasing from 1,827 to 3,129 units.

Istanbul remains the preferred destination for foreign buyers, followed by Ankara, Bursa and Yalova.

The increase in property sales can be clearly attributed to Turkey’s decision last year to slash the investment threshold for gaining citizenship to $250,000 from $1 million previously.

A weak Turkish lira has also been a factor in attracting foreign buyers. A 30 per cent drop in the Turkish lira last year, coupled with another 10 per cent decline against the dollar so far in 2019, has made it far cheaper for foreign buyers.

The Turkish Statistics Office revealed that the foreign investors are primarily from Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Article published 24th April 2019