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Foreign Demand on Property in Turkey Declines 26% in August | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Business and financial district of Levent, which comprises leading Turkish companies’ headquarters and popular shopping malls, is seen from the Sapphire Tower in Istanbul, Turkey May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer


Ankara- Foreign demand on properties in Turkey dropped 26% in August compared with the same month in 2015. The total number of sold units reached 1,512 and 390 out of them are located in Istanbul.

Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed that real estate sales, by locals and foreigners, rose 41% compared with July 2016 as the number of sold units in August reached 114,751 in various regions of Turkey.

Istanbul came first among Turkish cities with regards to highest number of sold properties in which 17,503 and 12,300 were sold respectively in Istanbul and Ankara, the capital.

Among foreigners, Iraqis topped the list of property buyers in August, according to figures provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (267 real estates) followed by Saudis (173 units), Kuwaitis (155 units), Russians (117 properties) and in the fifth place the Afghans (75 units).

Earlier, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Republic of Turkey addressed the citizens who are willing to purchase or invest in Turkey, urging them to ask for a lawyer’s advice before signing any contract.

The Saudi Embassy in Turkey also stressed that the contract language must be the official language of the county in order to facilitate adjudication in case of any commercial conflict.

Mohammad Ala Dimarji, a real estate expert in Turkey, said the real estate sector is still attracting huge number of investors, especially Arabs, despite the uncertainty of the Turkish economy.

Statistics have shown that Saudis acquire the biggest space of real estates in Turkey whereby 1,115 Saudis purchased 824,000 square meters during the first half of 2016, according to the index of foreign investors in Turkey’s real estate sector.

Also based on the space criterion, the UK came second (446,000 square meters) followed by Kuwait (340,000 square meters).

With the beginning of the second half of 2016, Arab investor interest in the Turkish real estate sector goes unabated.