Housing sales in Turkey dropped 29.1% year-on-year in June but doubled the May figure, official data showed Monday.
A total of 134,731 residential properties changed hands last month, versus some 59,166 units sold in May, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data.
A record 190,000 and 230,000 houses were sold in June and July last year, a trend that was mainly driven by cheap credit, as the central bank lowered its policy rate to fend off the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and state banks ramped up lending.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has since dramatically raised its policy rate – the one-week repo rate – to 19% to lower inflation, which topped 17.5% last month.
The monetary authority said that the tightening has caused loans to follow a moderate trend.
Sales had exceeded 100,000 units in March, before slightly falling to around 95,000 in April.
Sales to foreign buyers marked the best January-June period ever as they topped the 20,000 level for the first time.
Sales in the period saw a nearly 44% year-on-year increase to some 20,488, the data showed.
Istanbul again enjoyed the lion’s share of the sales to foreigners, with 10,108 units.
