By the end of January, the final results of 2022 will be reviewed, however, by the end of November, the major trends will have been quite evident.
The strong level of interest from foreign investors in Turkish real estate was one of the year's most pleasant surprises. Although local purchasers are waiting and market sales have generally decreased recently, Hakan Budjak, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MARS, stated that from the standpoint of interested citizens of other countries, the situation and prospects are quite promising.
Recall that in 2021, 58,000 residential real estate units in Turkey were sold to foreign buyers. This number exceeded 60,000 for the first time by the end of November 2022. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the "threshold" of around 65,000 residences will be attained by the end of December. The expert explains that "this will bring the Turkish economy $12–13 billion." Many specialists predict that 70,000 residences will be sold to foreign investors.
In the first ten months of 2022, the results were clear when analysts started to see the data for the first time. It was discovered in October that Russian Federation residents bought 20.6% of the units sold to foreign investors.
In the first ten months of this year, Russia, which came in third place last year on the list of nations with the highest number of residential property transactions in Turkey, jumped to the top position. Since the spring of 2022, it has taken the top spot each month, having overtaken the previous leaders, Iran and Iraq.
Ten nations that purchase the most Turkish homes were mentioned by Hakan Budjak. They were Russia, Iraq, Iran, Germany, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kuwait, the USA, Yemen and Azerbaijan. The expert emphasised that Turkey can compete with the top real estate markets in Portugal, Spain, Greece, England, the USA, Canada, Italy and France when it comes to residential real estate demand.
In terms of the total number of dwellings purchased "by nationality" during the course of eleven months, Russians came out on top with 13,909 transactions. The rating generally looks like this:
- Russia – 13,909
- Iran – 7,548
- Iraq – 5,896
- Germany – 2,493
- Kazakhstan – 2,436
- Ukraine – 2,268
- Afghanistan – 1,629
- Kuwait – 1,552
- USA – 1,226
- Azerbaijan – 1,191
- English – 1,165
- Yemen – 1,141
- China – 1,098
- Palestine – 1,082
- Egypt – 1,044
- Jordan – 1,018
These are the states that have gone beyond the 1,000th "threshold."
If we include Turkish citizens as buyers as well, sales to foreigners peaked in the same months even though the annual decrease in home sales lasted during the last five months of the year. Foreigners acquired more than 61,000 homes in Turkey from January to November as a result. In November, Russians purchased a historical maximum of 2,575 homes or apartments which exceeded the previous record. This is an increase of 208% over the same indicator from 2021.
Among foreign buyers, the share of Russians in the number of Turkish housing purchases for the month grew to 42% in the aforementioned "record" November.
Even though locals purchase real estate most frequently in Istanbul, the Turkish capital Ankara, and Izmir, the "top three" in terms of demand from foreigners are entirely different. Here are Istanbul, Antalya and Mersin, which have just started to acquire popularity until the end of 2022.
Just Ankara and its surroundings, Izmir, Samsun, Mugla (including the well-known resort cities of Marmaris, Bodrum, Fethiye and Oludeniz), Bursa, Sakarya, Trabzon, Rize and Adana are other provinces that are seeing an upsurge in interest from overseas purchasers.
Additionally, the Antalya province has turned into a home for Russian and Ukrainian citizens. A considerable number of Germans live in the resort cities of Antalya and Bodrum, while the British primarily reside in the province of Mugla (particularly Marmaris and Fethiye), Izmir, Aydin and small resort towns like Kash and Kalkan which are close to Antalya. According to analysts, individuals from Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula favoured Trabzon and Rize in 2022, while real estate investors from the Turkic countries picked Mersin and Adana. However, consumers from the Russian Federation started to favour Mersin more last year.
The largest increase in demand was seen among Russians, who purchased 110% more properties in the first ten months of 2022 than they did in the entire year of 2021. For example, the Germans bought 2,358 homes or apartments last year, while the British bought 2,089. Russians bought at least 2,000 homes per month.
Just in November alone, 2,616 units out of 19,395 were sold in Antalya, which ranked first in house sales to residents of other states, accounting for almost 15% of the overall number of transactions. In October, every third residence in the province was bought out by citizens in other states. 1,733 housing units in Istanbul were "sold" to foreign buyers, compared to 567 in Mersin.
22,985 housing units in Istanbul and 19,395 in Antalya (+56.6% compared to last year) were sold to foreigners during the course of eleven months.
In addition to Istanbul and Antalya, the other Turkish provinces in the TOP-10 with the biggest sales to foreigners in the first eleven months of 2022 were:
- Mersin – 3,653 units
- Ankara – 2,564
- Bursa – 1,837
- Yalova – 1,670
- Sakarya – 1,193
- Izmir – 1,156
- Samsun – 953
- Trabzon – 913
Residents from other states acquired 4,785 homes in the remaining seventy-one provinces.
We once more draw attention to Antalya's "role," which increased to 43% of the entire amount of transactions with foreigners from January to November. However, in this province specifically, her popularity has led to several issues with the real estate market as a whole, including the sharp rise in prices in Antalya, Alanya and the surrounding area, both for sale and for rent, There was also the issue of foreign real estate agents, often with Russian and Ukrainian citizenship and working without a licence, which is prohibited. There was the problem of the rapid rise in prices in Antalya, Alanya and the surrounding area.
Acquired real estate comes in various types. Although it is challenging to pinpoint preferences in this context because so much depends on the client's financial stability and the area selected, a significant portion of foreigners in 2022 concentrated on the 1 + 1 and 2 + 1 configurations, with one and two bedrooms. For instance, 55.56% of foreigners chose 1+1 flats in November.
Another trend is that branded residences are preferred by large developers.
Well, let's have a look at the important monthly statistical indicators that analysts gathered in 2022 for the sector of residential real estate sales to foreign nationals:
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January.
4,186 transactions, or 4.7% of all transactions in the nation, were made. In decreasing order, Istanbul, Antalya and Ankara are the top three cities. Iran with 761, Iraq with 513 and the Russian Federation with 479 round out the top three nations in terms of buyer citizenship.
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February.
4,591 transactions, or nearly the same percentage of the total volume as the top cities in the same ranking. The TOP-3 nations with the highest number of new happy homeowners in Turkey were Iran with 711, Iraq with 633 and Russia with 509.
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March.
Already this month, there have been significantly more transactions (5,567) than in January and February. The percentage of housing sales to foreign buyers in the overall number of transactions during the third month of the year was 4.1%. The favourite cities include Istanbul, Antalya and Ankara once more. States with the highest volume of transactions include Iran with 784, Iraq with 741 and the Russian Federation with 547.
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April.
Things started to shift in April. 6,447 homes were sold all at once, which is 58.1% more than in April of the previous year.
The number of foreign buyers who purchased homes in the total number of transactions was about 4.8. The most popular cities remain the same but the "portrait" of the main buyer has changed. Russian Federation residents completed the most transactions, totalling 1,152 residential units. Iran had 905 transactions and Iraq were bypassed by them with 714 transactions.
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May.
5,962 transactions were made, with a 4.9% share of those sales going to overseas buyers.
Mersin entered the top three cities for the first time, displacing the capital Ankara from third place after Istanbul and Antalya.
An important indicator was the rise in the number of residential real estate sales to foreign buyers from January to May, which was up 70.0% from the same period in 2021. In terms of volume, the Russians continued to lead with 1,275 homes or apartments. Iranian nationals had 736 and are in second place and Iraqis are third with 617.
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June.
The numbers skyrocketed in June with 8,630 transactions involving residents of other states or an increase of 81.8% from June 2021. 5.7% of all sales were made through transactions with international customers.
Mersin firmly assumed third place behind Antalya and Istanbul. Russian Federation residents bought 1,887 housing units right away, more than twice as many as Iranian residents who bought 987 units and more than twice as many as Iraqi residents who bought 640 units and 807 units.
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July.
The number of units reduced significantly in this month to 3,939. The top three cities-leaders were replayed, with Antalya moving ahead of Istanbul to take the top spot. The third place stayed with Mersin.
Still, the Russians purchased 1,028 properties in total.
Iranian nationals came in second with 431 purchases and Iraqi nationals came in third with 380.
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August.
5,273 residences were acquired which is up from July but down from June. 4.3% of the total number of transactions in residential real estate were sales to residents of foreign nations. Here the indicator also decreased.
Once again, Antalya is in first place with Istanbul and Mersin close by in second and third. Russian Federation residents bought 1,238 housing units in Turkey, 633 in Iran and 417 in Iraq in August.
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September.
The sale of 5,049 housing units were to citizens of other states. The volume represents 4.5% of all transactions.
Istanbul reclaimed first place in September, barely defeating Antalya (1,795 sales to 1,585 sales). Mersin trailed the "gold" and "silver" winners by a significant margin of 335 sales.
In terms of volume, the Russians are not far behind which will be seen in the upcoming months. The people of the Russian Federation purchased 1,196 houses, Iran purchased 592 and Iraq purchased 433.
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October.
5,377 transactions were recorded in October. 5.2% of the total volume of sales were real estate sales to foreigners.
Stronger than Istanbul, Antalya broke away with 2,123 dwellings as opposed to 1,658 in Istanbul. Mersin came in third.
2,023 sales had Russians purchasing the most homes. Iraq acquired 310 and Iran purchased 498. This time, the experts paid close attention to the Ukraine's fourth place finish with 216 transactions.
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November.
Homes or apartments sold reached 6,083 units. The percentage of sales to overseas customers stayed at 5.2% from October. In general, a percentage of greater than 5% is already extremely high.
Antalya continues to be the winner with 2,616 units sold all at once. In fact, in previous years, this amount occasionally represented the total amount of sales to foreigners for the entire month. Istanbul had 733 and Mersin had 567 are steadily gaining speed and are the cities that came after Antalya.
The number of Russian Federation residents who have purchased houses has increased to 2,575. Iran purchased 510, Iraq had 331 and Ukraine with a total of 277 to round out the list.
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December.
Here, the statistics won't be available until the beginning of 2022, but the indicators compared to November will most likely stay the same in terms of how ranking positions are distributed.
Information concerning new modifications to acquiring a residency permit and citizenship surfaced during the last days of 2022. Perhaps this will "inspire" interested parties to move forward with the purchase, especially given that prices are still rising.
