Foreign property buyers are continuing to flow into Turkey, snapping up villas and apartments at an increasing rate.

Sentiment for Turkey’s property stock saw a staggering 32.4 percent rise year-on-year in February.

Statistics released this week showed that 1,729 properties were sold to foreigners last month. In January alone, 1,742 units were sold, a 25.7 percent rise on January 2017.

The general feeling in the real estate agent industry in Turkey is that the nation is starting to turn a corner both on the property and tourism fronts.

The last two months have followed the pattern of 2017 during which 22,234 properties were sold to foreign investors – a 22.2 percent rise on 2016. Last year, more than a third – 8,182 – of the 22,234 properties were sold within the Istanbul province.

Official data for February 2018 revealed that 35 percent – or 604 properties – of the 1,729 homes sold to foreigners was in Istanbul. This was followed by Antalya, with sales of 415 homes.

Iraqis continued to be the main investor in Turkish property real estate, buying up 308 properties. Saudis came second with 178 units, Russians third with 128 units, Iranians with 122 units and Afghans with 118 units.

On the domestic front in February, property sales fell by 5.4 percent to 95,953. Istanbul saw the biggest house sales with 16,227 houses, followed by Ankara and İzmir.