Iranians purchased 2,156 housing units in Turkey during the first four months of 2021 to remain on top of the list of foreign buyers of property in Turkey.
Latest figures released by Turkish Statistical Institute indicate a 6.68% growth in the number of housing units purchased by Iranians during the period, compared with the previous year’s 2,021 housing units. The number is also the highest, compared with the corresponding period of the years before.
Iranians were followed by Iraqis with 2,007 house purchases, Russians with 1,340, Afghans with 929 and Kazakh nationals with 542 units over the four months under review.
As per the figures, a total of 14,124 housing units were sold to foreigners during the period, nearly half of which were located in Istanbul. Antalya, Ankara and Bursa were the other popular locations for foreigners planning to own a property in Turkey.
The data also indicate a sharp increase in the total number of housing units sold to Iranian nationals in April 2021, from 157 in last April to 557 housing units this year.
Foreigners bought a total of 4,132 homes in Turkey during the fourth month of the year, which indicate a substantial growth compared with the corresponding period of last year.
By implementing a series of policies aimed at attracting foreign direct investment in recent years, Turkey has succeeded in attracting many investors from regional countries, especially from the Middle East.
After the "Turkuaz Kart" (Turquoise Card), a practice similar to the US Green Card application, was launched in 2016, it became possible to get Turkish citizenship by investing in the country as of 2017.
Major Tourist Destination
Apart from property investments, Turkey has been a popular destination for Iranian travelers for many years.
Iran was Turkey's second biggest source of tourism in the first four months of 2021, accounting for 7% of all foreign tourists who visited the neighboring country.
Latest data released by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism show 194,380 Iranian tourists visited Turkey during the four months to register an 11% decline compared with the similar period of last year.
Russia with 552,048 (20% share) topped the list of foreign nationals visiting the Turkey in the period. Germany came third with 185,000 and was followed by Bulgaria with 159,653.
Close to 41,461 million Iranian tourists visited Turkey in April 2021, which could be interpreted as a sign of recovery in Turkey's tourism industry, as the number was reduced to 60 travelers in April 2020, when the pandemic was at its first peak.
On Feb. 23, Turkey closed its land borders with Iran and suspended all incoming flights from the country to stem the tide of the coronavirus.
Three border crossings of Razi, Esendere (Serow) and Bazargan remained closed until June 4.
Earlier in March, after an increase in Turkey's Covid-19 cases, all traveling tours to this country were cancelled by Iran.
But later, IranAir announced that Iranians can fly to the neighboring Turkey with a residential permit or tourist visa, provided they have a negative coronavirus test result of their own.
