"Russians set records for purchasing Turkish houses to foreign buyers in2022 | Daily Sabah""

Russians tripled their home purchases in Turkey in 2022, becoming the most active foreign buyers in the real estate market. This is due to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Russians bought a record 16,312 homes and topped the list of foreign buyers last year.

They surpassed Iranian and Iraqi nationals, who ranked second and third respectively, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The data shows an impressive 203% year-on-year increase in purchases and reflects that many Russians are seeking financial refuge following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the effects of Western sanctions.

Purchases by Russians accounted for nearly a quarter of all home sales to foreign buyers, which rose 15.2% year-on-year to a record 67,490 units, the statistics office said. While sales in 2013 totaled 12,181 units. Iranians bought 8,223 houses last year, while Iraqis bought 6,241 houses, the data showed.

Ukrainian citizens who flew to join their relatives, who live mainly in the southern province of Antalya, also increased their purchases by 106.6% year-on-year to 2,574 units. Among others, Germans bought 2,705 houses and Kazakhs bought 2,702.

Selman Özgün, head of the Antalya-based Helmann Construction Company, noted the difficulties faced by global trade and international direct investment last year, despite which, he said, investors maintained their interest in Turkey. Özgün especially emphasized that the interest of citizens of both countries has increased dramatically after the Russia-Ukraine war. He noted that Antalya particularly stands out and last year, sales of houses to foreign buyers increased by 76.5 percent year-on-year.

Home sales to foreign buyers accounted for 4.5% of total sales in Turkey in 2022, down slightly by 0.4% year-on-year to nearly 1.49 million homes. The capital Istanbul was the most popular destination for foreignreal estate buyers with 24,953 homes sold. It was followed by Antalya, a popular vacation destination, with 21,860 and another southern province of Mersin with 4,316.

Russians again topped the list of foreign buyers, purchasing 2,403 homes last month. They were followed by Iranians and Iraqis with 675 and 345 homes respectively.

Istanbul Builders Association (INDER) head Nazmi Durbakayıym said that sales to foreign home buyers bring more added value in the form of foreign currency inflows. "We also hope that efforts will be made to increase sales to foreign buyers who are qualified investors in 2023," Durbakayıym said.

Meanwhile, total home sales in December fell 8.2% from a year earlier to 207,963 units. The data also showed that sales with mortgages fell 51.8% in December from a year earlier and 4.8% for 2022 as a whole, accounting for 18.9% of all sales in the year. Istanbul had the highest share of sales in 2022 at 17.5% or 259,654 units, followed by the capital Ankara (8.5%) and the Aegean province of Izmir (5.6%), according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The decline in overall sales came amid tightening supply and rising prices, showing again that households continue to view real estate as an attractive investment vehicle to protect against inflation, which hit a 24-year high in October before falling in the past two months. Annual inflation fell strongly to 64.27% in December from 84.39% recorded in November 2022. The decline was mainly driven by the so-called favorable base effect and was the second consecutive decline after peaking at 85.5% in October. The decline is expected to become more pronounced in the first quarter of this year and fall to 40% by mid-2023.

Last year, the government announced several measures aimed at boosting home sales and tackling soaring prices as residents faced the challenge of finding affordable housing to rent or buy. The government has taken several measures to mitigate the effects of inflation, including limiting rent increases and introducing a major housing project for low-income families.

Özyurtlar Holding Chairman Tamer Özyurt said the industry has put behind it a year that was marked by very attractive prices for foreign investors, mainly due to currency volatility. Ozyurt said purchases by foreign buyers helped the industry during a stagnant domestic market. Helmann head Ozgün expressed his expectation that international investors' interest in Turkish real estate will continue in 2023 and that Istanbul and Antalya will continue to be the most popular destinations.