Turkish housing sales slipped 2.5 percent year on year in October to 142,810 units, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Monday, halting a two-month upswing despite sharp monetary easing, Reuters reported.
Sales last month were also a bit lower than in September. Turkey’s central bank has slashed interest rates by 1,000 basis points since July to boost recovery from a recession and last year’s currency crisis.
“İstanbul had the highest share of house sales with 17.1 percent and 24,451 houses,” TurkStat said in a statement, according to the Hürriyet Daily News.
The capital of Ankara and the Aegean province of İzmir followed İstanbul with 13,978 and 9,012 house sales, respectively.
Official data showed that property sales to foreigners dropped 31.9 percent year-on-year in October, reaching 4,272 units.
İstanbul led the sales with 2,043 houses, followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya with 912 and Ankara with 192. Among foreigners, Iraqi nationals topped the list by buying 597 houses.
They were followed by Iranians with 536 and Russians with 292 house sales.