Turkey: Housing sales rise by 2 pct in August

ANKARA (AA) - Property sales in Turkey rose by 2 percent on an annual basis in August, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported Friday.

According to the institute, 114,751 houses changed hands in Turkey last month, marking a 41 percent increase compared to July.

Of those sales, 1,512 were sold to foreigners, with approximately 26 percent (or 390 units) of them in Istanbul, the country's largest city by population. This corresponds to a 26 percent decline compared to the same month last year.

Following Istanbul, the holiday resort city of Antalya came in second with 370 properties, while the northwestern province of Bursa ranked third with 111.

TurkStat data also revealed that Iraqis topped the list of buyers with 267 properties, followed by Saudis (173 units), Kuwaitis (155 units), Russians (117 units) and Afghans (75 units).

In overall sales, Istanbul has maintained its top spot with 15.3 percent (17,503 units) of house transfers. The capital, Ankara, and the western province of Izmir followed, with 10.7 percent (12,300 units) and 5.6 percent (6,419 units) shares, respectively.

Mortgages for house sales in the country increased by 1.2 percent to 36,458 units compared to the same month last year.

House sales with mortgages had a 31.8 percent share of all house sales in Turkey. Currently, the mortgage rate for 120 months is between 0.95 percent and 1.15 percent per month in Turkey.