Turkish home sales fell for the second month in September as transactions based on mortgages dived, according to figures published by the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The sales dropped by an annual 9.2 percent to 127,327 homes, according to data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Friday.

Turkish interest rates have surged since a currency crisis this year forced the central bank to hike interest rates to 24 percent in September, triple the rate at the start of the year. Turkey’s lira has dived about 35 percent against the dollar in 2018 and inflation now stands at 24.5 percent.

House purchases financed with mortgages slumped 72 percent yearly, with just 1,863 homes changing hands by such methods in Istanbul, a city of more than 15 million people. The decrease in mortgage-backed sales was 67 percent in August.

Purchases via mortgages comprised just 8.9 percent of total sales compared with 12.1 percent in August.

Overall house purchases had fallen 12.5 percent in August, when Turkey celebrated a one-week religious holiday.

The deterioration in the property market comes despite government incentives including low-cost mortgages offered by state-run banks and limits on real estate agency fees. Builders have also offered discounts to get rid of old housing stock, which is growing rapidly.

The decline in property sales during September was partly limited by transactions with foreigners, which surged 151 percent to 5,615 units.

Most of the units sold to foreigners were bought by customers from the Middle East, including Iraq and Iran. Germany, the home to millions of ethnic Turks, also figured prominently. The government introduced a scheme in September to give citizenship to those who spent $250,000 or more on a house.