Turkey sees 18 pct year-on-year drop in housing sales in February amid quake destruction

Housing sales in Turkey declined 18 percent in February, when massive earthquakes struck the country’s south and southeast, compared to the same month last year, the Diken news website reported on Wednesday, citing the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

More than 48,000 people died in Turkey and nearly 6,000 in Syria in the Feb. 6 earthquakes, the region’s deadliest in modern times.

Hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors have been moved into tents and container homes across the disaster region, which includes 11 provinces.

A total of 80,031 houses were sold in February, according to TurkStat, the lowest number since May 2021.

İstanbul led among provinces with 14,980 houses sold, followed by Ankara with 8,235 and İzmir with 5,031. İstanbul accounted for 18.7 percent of the sales.

In contrast, provinces with the lowest number of house sales were Hakkari, with 16 houses; Ardahan, with 30; and Tunceli, with 47 houses.

The number of house sales to foreigners also decreased by 27 percent in February compared to the same month last year. The total number of house sales to foreigners was 3,350, with Antalya ranking first with 1,261. İstanbul followed closely with 1,133 house sales and Mersin with 225.