The Turkish Statistical Institute, TÜİK, released its December data, clarifying the full 2025 picture for home sales. Commenting on the figures, real estate entrepreneur Hakan Bucak said, “We saw a double record in housing.”
Bucak stated, “Across Türkiye, home sales increased by 19.8% in December compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 254,777. This marks the highest monthly sales figure recorded to date. For the full year, sales rose by 14.3% to 1,688,910. This set a historic peak in annual sales.”
Emphasizing that a sales record was achieved despite high loan interest rates and declining purchasing power, Hakan Bucak explained the main factors driving demand as follows: “In real terms, housing prices have been falling since February 2024. This created a major opportunity for those with savings. People who were invested in alternative instruments such as gold and deposits redirected the income they earned into real estate, because the prevailing sentiment was, prices will rise later and I won’t be able to access it. Another factor influencing investors’ purchase decisions was the payback period. As the pace of price increases slowed and rents rose, the payback period for housing became attractive again. Recent disputes between landlords and tenants also prompted renters to take action. In addition, growing interest in interest-free financing systems became another factor supporting home sales.”
New models must be implemented in 2026
Hakan Bucak stated that with rising sales, the homeownership rate in Türkiye increased by one percentage point from 56% to 57% and said, “It is important to see an increase after a long period of decline. However, the rate is still below the desired level. Home sales are breaking records, but we see that most buyers are investors. The group with the strongest underlying demand, those without a home, is still waiting. The largest social housing campaign in history, aiming to build 500,000 social housing units, was a critical move for low-income citizens. Yet the high number of applications shows that the need is far greater. For this reason, while the public sector develops projects for low-income groups, it is also time to test new models for middle-income groups. We should implement accessible housing models, which have examples around the world, in our country in 2026 as well. We should start pilot implementations for models such as public land and private sector collaboration, allocating a share for social housing within branded housing projects and producing social rental housing, then expand them nationwide based on their success. 2025 was the year of housing sales, and 2026 should be the year of production.”
Bucak also noted that in 2025, the share of bank loan financed sales was only 14% and he emphasized the need for special interest rates for first-time homebuyers to make access to housing easier.
The current account deficit is growing in real estate
Saying that home sales to foreigners continue to decline, Hakan Bucak stated, “In 2025, home sales to foreigners decreased by 9.4% compared to the previous year, falling to 21,534. In 2025, the share of home sales to foreigners within total home sales was 1.3%. This is the worst rate of the last 12 years. The picture is similar not only in housing but across all real estate sales. Looking at the last one year of data, foreigners’ net real estate purchases in Türkiye amounted to USD 2.308 billion. Turks’ overseas real estate purchases reached a historic peak at USD 2.657 billion. Incoming investment lagged behind outgoing investment. The current account deficit in real estate is growing. If there is no improvement led by the public sector in this area, the country’s economy will be the one that loses,” he said.