Filenews 17 January 2023
Russians ranked 1st among foreign property buyers in Turkey in 2022, helping one of the hottest real estate markets through tripling their purchases, given that sanctions against Moscow over Putin's invasion of Ukraine are driving Russian money into investments abroad, as reported by Bloomberg agency.
Russian citizens bought a record number of 16,312 houses in Turkey in 2022, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
This is an increase of 203% compared to 2021, with Russians accounting for about 25% of all purchases by foreigners.
"Antalya is Russifying," notes Ali Kemal Gurdal, a real estate development executive in the Mediterranean city. Many Russian property buyers are also applying for Turkish citizenship, a right guaranteed to those who buy property worth at least $400,000.
Even after adjusting to inflation, Turkey had the largest increase in property prices in the third quarter of 2022 on an annual basis in the world, according to data from 56 countries.
Knight Frank's global house price index showed real property price growth in Turkey of 57.6% in the third quarter.
Sales to foreign nationals in the southern Turkish province of Antalya, a well-known tourist destination, rose by 77%, to 21,860. Iranians, who fell from the top to second place, bought in 2022 8,223 houses. They are followed by the Iraqis and the Germans.
