A 32% increase in the percentage of sales of properties in Turkey within 6 months in 2020

One of the sectors that remained resilient in the time of Corona in Turkey, is the real estate sector, which emphasized its superior ability in overcoming crises. 

Although the pandemic led to the collapse of the major economies of the world in succession, Turkey managed after 6 months of the pandemic to support the public treasury with 7 billion and 792 million Turkish liras from revenues of real estate in Turkey, equivalent to 1.3 billion US dollars, according to the exchange rate.

According to the statistics published by the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning sales of properties in Turkey have increased by 32% during the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year, i.e. the first half of 2019.

Statistics of real estate sales in Turkey during the first half of 2020

During the first half of 2020, Turkey managed to sell more than 581,798 homes across the country, including 95,271 houses in Istanbul, which had the lion’s share of the sales processes due to the size of its population and as a center for tourism and real estate in Turkey.

Ankara ranked second in the ranking of the most popular Turkish states to buy apartments in Turkey, with a total of 64,052 houses, while Izmir Province on the Aegean came in the third position of the sales list with 36, 651 properties.

Turkey achieved sales of 141,374 additional homes during the first half of 2020, an increase of 32 percent compared to the same period last year.

Concerning mortgaged sales, it reached more than 266 thousand homes, representing 42.5% of the total real estate sales in Turkey during the same period "January - June 2020".

Last June alone achieved a leap in terms of buying properties in Turkey, where real estate sales increased by 109.7% on an annual basis, exceeding 190 thousand homes, including 58 thousand new homes and 131 thousand used homes.

The decision to reduce interest rates on bank loans for housing at 0.64% for new homes and 0.74% for second-hand homes, with the payment of the installments extended to 15 years, contributed to an increase in demand for buying property in Istanbul in particular and in Turkey in general.

Foreign demand for buying properties in Turkey in the time of Corona

Although the Corona pandemic led to a near-total freeze of civil aviation for nearly two months, before that Turkey has managed to record a large number of real estate sales in Istanbul and other Turkish cities.

And once the flight resumed as part of a return to normal life, investors rushed again to buy properties in Istanbul and Turkey in general.

In this regard, real estate sales in Turkey to foreigners recorded more than 14 thousand homes between January and June.

Although real estate sales to foreigners in Turkey decreased compared to the same period last year, which amounted to nearly 20 thousand properties, the number recorded in the first half of 2020 despite the crisis that upset the world’s balance is an excellent number compared to major capitals in the world where real estate sales witnessed a record decline.

As usual, foreigners went to Istanbul first to buy a property in Turkey, where nearly 7,000 homes were sold to foreigners in Istanbul, while Antalya secondly came with about 3 thousand homes, and Ankara came in third with about a thousand homes.

Regarding the arrangement of foreign nationalities that are the most interested in buying properties in Turkey, the Iranians continued to top the list with more than 2,600 properties, followed by Iraqis who retreated by one rank compared to five years earlier, and in the third place, the Chinese achieved a sudden rise, followed by the Azerbaijanis and Russians.