The last winter month "marked" the lowest volume of housing transactions for the past three February, if we compare specific months.
Although the real estate sector itself should not be blamed for this: no one expected such strong tremors with an epicenter in Kahramanmarash and the destruction that followed. The country is still spending a lot of effort to cope with the consequences as quickly as possible; but for obvious reasons, in February, many were not up to buying apartments, because more than a million people had to move urgently.
Not to mention the fact that many interested parties became worried and postponed transactions, or switched from lots in high-rise buildings to low-rise buildings. Which still need to be selected. Those who have decided to buy a home, spend much more time and effort on checking documents for buildings, in the matter of earthquake resistance in the first place. For the same reason, internal migration increased in the provinces that were not affected by the earthquake: for example, experts drew attention to the outflow of population from Istanbul, which is riskier in terms of seismic activity.
So, if we compare the three past February, February 2023 showed the minimum figures: 80,031 residential units sold. Even in the "pandemic" February of 2021, this figure was slightly higher: 81,222 residential units. In February, 2022, there were noticeably more transactions: 97,587.
Although February 2023 still did not turn out to be the most unsuccessful month over the past 25, starting from February 2021: even fewer deals were concluded in May 2021.
Well, the most successful for the period "February 2021-February 2023" were both Decembers: in 2021 and 2022. Both months of sales "took off", compared to others.