Russians contribute to record sales of Turkish homes to foreigners in 2022 | Daily Sabah

In 2022, Russians tripled their home purchases in Turkey, becoming the most active foreign buyers in the real estate market. This is due to Western sanctions that have been imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), Russians bought a record 16,312 homes, ahead of Iranians and Iraqis, who ranked second and third respectively. The figures indicate a 203% year-on-year increase in purchases and reflect the fact that many Russians have sought financial refuge following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the impact of Western sanctions.

Russians made purchases that accounted for nearly a quarter of all sales to foreign buyers, up 15.2% year-on-year to a record 67,490 units. Compared to 2013, sales were up from 12,181 units. Iranians bought 8,223 houses, while Iraqis bought 6,241 houses.

Ukrainian citizens who flew to join their relatives living mainly in the southern province of Antalya also increased their purchases by 106.6% to 2,574 houses. Among other foreign buyers, Germans bought 2,705 houses and Kazakhstanis bought 2,702.

The head of the Helmann construction firm in Antalya, Selman Ozgün

noted the difficulties related to international trade and foreign direct investment last year, but said investors remained interested in Turkey. He especially noted that the interest of the citizens of both countries increased dramatically after the Russian-Ukrainian war. He noted that real estate in Antalya particularly stood out and sales of houses to foreign buyers increased by 76.5% compared to last year.

Home sales to foreigners accounted for 4.5% of total real estate sales in Turkey in 2022, which was a slight decrease of 0.4% compared to last year, with a total of nearly 1.49 million homes sold.

The real estate capital for foreign buyers was Istanbul, where 24,953 homes were sold. It is followed by Antalya, a popular resort, with 21,860 homes sold, and another southern province, Mersin, with 4,316 homes.

In December, foreign buyers purchased 6,386 homes and this is a decrease of 18.6% compared to last year, accounting for 3.1% of total sales.

The head of the Istanbul Builders Association, Nazmi Durbakayim

noted that sales to foreigners bring great added value in the form of foreign currency inflows. "We are also hopeful that efforts will be made to increase real estate sales to foreign qualified investors in 2023," Durbakayim said.

Meanwhile, total home sales in December fell 8.2 percent year-on-year 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 total sales in the year.

Stambul 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 is due to lower supply and rising prices, showing that households continue to view real estate as an attractive investment vehicle to protect themselves from inflation, which hit a 24-year high in October before falling in the past two months. Annual inflation fell sharply to 64.27% in December from 84.39% reported in November 2022. The decline is mainly due to the so-called favorable base effect and is the second consecutive drop after peaking at 85.5% in October. The decline in inflation 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 to boost real estate sales and cope with rising prices, which more than doubled as residents struggled to find affordable homes to rent or buy. The government has introduced a series of support measures to cushion the effects of inflation, including limiting rent increases and introducing a large housing project for low-income families.

Head of Özyurtlar Holding Tamer Özyurt

said that the industry has left behind a year that was marked by very attractive prices for foreign investors, mainly due to fluctuations in exchange rates. Özyurt noted that purchases by foreigners have helped support the industry during a stagnant domestic market.

Ozgun from Helmann expressed hope that foreign investors' interest in Turkish real estate will continue and that Istanbul and Antalya will continue to be the most popular places to buy real estate.