Yeni Safak - According to latest official data, purchases by foreign nationals in Türkiye’s real estate market have gained pace in the January-July period, with sales going up by 24 percent over the same period of 2014.
In the first seven months of 2015, foreign nationals acquired 12,380 properties, up from 9,980 in the previous year. Türkiye’s continent-spanning city, Istanbul, stood out with 3,870 purchases, while the Mediterranean province of Antalya was runner up with 3,548. Bursa, the city on the slopes of Mount Uludag in the Marmara region, came a distant third with 788 properties sold to foreign buyers but nevertheless experiencing a solid 60 percent increase in sales over January-July, 2014.
Of the foreign property acquirers, Iraqis ranked first with a total of 2,031 acquisitions, followed by Saudis with 1,420 and Russians with 1,289 during the first seven months of this year.
Real estate purchases by foreigners in Türkiye reached USD 4.3 billion in 2014, rising by 41 percent over the previous year. Turkish laws on property ownership by foreigners were eased in 2012. The country also grants yearlong residency permits to foreigners who acquire property that can be extended indefinitely.