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According to the official data provided by TÜİK, property sales in Turkey in March 2023 decreased by 21.4% compared to the same month last year and amounted to 105,476 units.
Istanbul accounted for the highest share of transactions with 18,166 units or 17.2%. Istanbul is followed by Ankara with 12,023 sales (an 11.4% share) and Antalya with 6,120 sales (a 5.8% share). The provinces with the lowest number of residential units sold were Ardahan with 23, Hakkâri with 54, and Bayburt with 69.
Over Q1 of this year, from January to March, the volume of transactions decreased by 11.5% compared to the same period last year, reaching 83,215 units.
Mortgage transactions: 25,262
Mortgaged property sales in Turkey in March decreased by 16.5% compared to the same month last year and amounted to 25,262 units. Transactions involving mortgage lending made up 24.0% of the total volume of property sales. In January to March, mortgage transactions dropped by 13.9% compared to Q1 2022 to 58,822 over three months.
The new-build segment accounted for 8,811 mortgage sales in March 2023 and 18,164 mortgage sales in Q1.
Other transactions: 80,214
In March, the volume of non-mortgage transactions in Turkey decreased by 22.8% compared to the same month last year and amounted to 80,214 units. The share of such sales accounted for 76% of the total volume of transactions. In January to March, the number of sales in this segment decreased by 10.9% compared to the same period in 2022. In all, 224,393 residential units were sold over three months.
Primary property sales: 32,899
A total of 32,899 residences in the new-build segment were sold in the country in March. This is 14.2% less than in March last year. However, the share of new builds in the total volume of transactions amounted to 31.2%.
Over Q1 of this year, primary property sales decreased by 11.2% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 83,907 units.
Secondary property sales: 72,577
In March, the volume of secondary property transactions in Turkey dropped by 24.3% compared to the same month in 2022 and amounted to 72,577 units. However, this is 68.8% of the total number of transactions.
Sales of so-called second-hand properties decreased by 11.7% between January and March compared to the same period the previous year and amounted to 199,308 units.
Sales to foreigners: 3,415
Property sales to foreigners in March decreased by 38.7% compared to March 2022 and amounted to 3,415 units. Last month, the share of property transactions with nationals of other countries made up 3.2% of the total. Antalya ranked first in the number of sales with 1,324 residences (houses or apartments) sold to foreigners. Antalya is followed by Istanbul and Mersin with 1,090 and 240 sales respectively.
Over Q1, the number of transactions with foreigners decreased by 23.8% compared to January to March 2022. 10,926 residential units were sold over three months.
As for the nationality of the buyers, the citizens of the Russian Federation purchased the most units. In March, Russians bought 1,175 residences in Turkey. They are followed by Iranians with 472 units, Iraqis with 165 units, and Ukrainians with 160 units.