Russians purchased the largest number of apartments and other real estate in Turkey among foreigners in 2022, the Turkish Bureau of Statistics (TUIK) reported.
In total, according to the statistics bureau, more than 1.485 million apartments were sold in Turkey last year, which is 0.4% lower than in 2021. Foreigners purchased more than 67,000 properties, which is 15.2% higher in annual terms, but in December, compared to November, the number of apartments sold to foreigners decreased by 18.6%, the agency said. The most popular among foreigners are Istanbul, Antalya and Mersin.
“The Russians bought the largest number of apartments in Turkey - 16,312, followed by the citizens of Iran - more than 8.2 thousand apartments, Iraqi - more than six thousand," the bureau said. At the same time, in December alone, Russians purchased more than 2,400 apartments.
Back in March, Russians among home buyers in Turkey were in third place behind Iran and Iraq, but since April they have been leading the list.

In mid-November, a petition appeared on the website change.org demanding to stop selling and renting real estate to foreigners in Antalya, Turkey. The author demands that foreigners stay in resort hotels. As of January 17, almost 16,000 people have already signed the petition.
And last week, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of Turkey's largest center-left opposition Republican People's Party, said he intended to ban the sale of housing to foreigners for five years if he comes to power.