Turkey, being one of the favorite countries for foreign real estate investors, continues to increase its appeal. The number of houses sold to foreigners, which constitute 1% of the total house sales and is at the level of 12 thousand in 2013, accelerated as of 2016. The growth rate of the sector increased, especially with the regulation that came into force in September 2018, which lowers the limit of citizenship through investment to 250.000 USD.
In this period, also the steps were taken towards the institutionalization of the sector with the influence of civil organizations of which Realty Ports is also a part, and the congestions in the sector began to be eliminated with the arrangements made in legal processes. With all these developments, the sales of housing to foreigners reached 45.5 thousand units in 2019, reaching 3.4% of the total housing sales.
We can evaluate the question if now is the right time to buy property in Turkey in terms of the price evolution. As seen in the chart below, prepared by IGD (Istanbul Real Estate Valuation Company), when we look to the housing price index based on gold in Turkey, we see that the index which is considered 100 in 1988, come to its highest level in 2007 by 379 and reaches to its lowest level with 114 In Q2 2020
When we compare the prices with the gold value on the basis of a square meter, 1 m² corresponded to 60 gram gold in 2015, while it decreased to 21 gram in 2020. We should add that at this level, the market started to revive with the loan interest rate cut to support the domestic market. In this direction, we observe that the upward trend in prices has started. Home sales in Turkey recorded a 209.7% year-on-year growth in June 2020 after the announcement of mortgage loans at historically low rates.
