Turkey: Housing sales soared by 25.1 pct in November

ANKARA (AA) - Property sales in Turkey rose by 25.1 percent on an annual basis in November, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported Friday.

According to the institute, 132,655 houses changed hands in Turkey last month, marking around 2 percent increase compared to October.

Of those sales, 1,773 were sold to foreigners, with approximately 34 percent (or 596 units) of them in Istanbul, the country's largest city by population. This corresponds to a 16.3 percent decline compared to the same month last year.

Following Istanbul, the resort city of Antalya came in second with 409 properties, while the western province of Aydin ranked the third with 113.

TurkStat data also revealed that Iraqis topped the list of buyers with 285 properties, followed by Saudis (236 units), Kuwaitis (212 units), Russians (107 units) and Afghans (91 units).

In overall sales, Istanbul has maintained its top spot with 17 percent (22,449 units) of house transfers. The capital, Ankara, and the western province of Izmir followed, with 11.5 percent (15,302 units) and 5.9 percent (7,891 units) shares, respectively.

Mortgages for house sales in the country jumped by 71.4 percent to 48,941 units compared to the same month last year.

House sales with mortgages had a 36.9 percent share of all house sales in Turkey. Currently, the mortgage rate for 120 months is between 0.90 percent and 1.15 percent per month in Turkey.