Rising inflation contributed to a doubling of Turkish real estate sales in December.

The sales of real estate in Turkey surged 113.7 percent to 226,503 properties last December as locals rushed to invest their money in properties to protect themselves from rising inflation. After a series of unconventional rate cuts, real yields have turned deeply negative, so people have been looking for ways to keep their savings.

In December, real estate sales accelerated from the previous month.

As the lira's fall intensified and the authorities continued their low interest rate policy to boost exports and lending.

Home sales to foreigners also rose strongly by 77% year-on-year.

Reaching 7,841 properties. This is due to the sharp fall in the lira last month, which made real estate much cheaper in hard currencies.

The data also showed that mortgage sales in December rose 209.3% year-on-year to 45,260 properties.

The real estate valuation manager of TSCB Turkish Bank, Makbule Yonel Maya, said that for Turks, real estate is an investment to protect their savings from inflation. "People have been turning to buying real estate since inflation began to rise.

The Central Bank of Turkey has cut its policy rate by 500 basis points from September 2021, a stimulus expected by President Tayyip Erdogan, despite inflation continuing to rise.

The rate cut led to record demand for foreign currency among locals and triggered a full-blown lira crisis last month, exacerbating inflation that reached 36 percent in December.

All real estate sales fell 0.5% in 2021 to 1.492 million properties, with mortgage sales down 49%. Sales skyrocketed in 2020 thanks to cheap loans from state-owned banks, which encouraged real estate developers to launch marketing campaigns to attract buyers.

Sales to foreigners accounted for 3.9 percent of total residential sales in 2021, with the number of properties sold rising 43.5 percent to 58,576 units. Most sales to foreigners occurred in Istanbul, followed by Antalya and Ankara.