Foreigners are buying more and more residential property in Turkey
35,383 residential properties were bought by foreigners in Turkey from January to June 2022. This is 72,7% more than in the same period last year.
We tell you how many apartments and houses were sold in total and why foreigners invest in Turkish real estate.
Author •Zlata Erlach
Head of the Austrian office
Foreigners are buying more and more residential property in Turkey
Reports on the sale of residential real estate in Turkey are published monthly by the Institute of Statistics: in the first six months of 2022, a total of 726,398 sales contracts were concluded. This is 31,4% more than in the same period in 2021.
The share of real estate sales to foreigners amounted to 4,9% of the total. But it is still one and a half times more than last year.
Foreigners buy property for themselves or for rent: property prices are rising every year. For investments in real estate, foreigners also receive Turkish citizenship. To get a Turkish passport, you need to buy objects worth at least $400,000.
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir are leaders in residential real estate sales among both citizens and foreigners. About 33% of sales contracts were concluded in these three cities.
New home sales are up 24,2% and existing home sales are up 34,6% in the first half of 2022 compared to last year.
Demand for residential properties in Turkey is growing every year. The sharp jump in sales from March to June was caused by the tense geopolitical situation in the world. We present on the graphs the number of concluded contracts for the sale of real estate in Turkey from January to June 2022.
Most residential properties were bought by Russian citizens: they signed 5,849 sales contracts. In second and third place are citizens of Iran and Iraq.
Top 5 countries whose citizens bought a house in Turkey in 2022
Country
Number of sales
Russia
5849
Iran
4884
Iraq
4025
Kazakhstan
1417
Germany
1414
Source: Turkish Statistical Institute
How the value of Turkish real estate is growing in 2022
Property prices in Turkey are rising every year. This is confirmed by Eurostat statistics: the dynamics of property prices in Turkey is ahead of the dynamics of the European Union.
Turkey ranks first in the Eurostat house price index with a 110% increase in the cost of residential properties in the first quarter of 2022 on an annualized basis and by 641,35% over the past 12 years. For comparison, the increase in the average cost of housing in the European Union is 44,7%.
At 641%
Turkey’s residential property has grown in value since 2010
The cost of residential real estate is also estimated by the Central Bank of Turkey: objects increased in price by 12,4% in May 2022 compared to April, and by 41,1% year on year. The largest increase in housing prices over the year:
in Istanbul — by 165,4%;
Ankara — by 147,5%;
Izmir — by 139,9%.
The growth in demand for the purchase of real estate also affected the demand for land: 216,582 properties were sold in the first five months. The cost of plots has increased by 83% over the past year. The average price of a plot of land is ₺791,015 (about $44,000), according to the Endeksa real estate portal.
How to get Turkish citizenship by investing in real estate
Investors take part in a government program to obtain Turkish citizenship. The option to buy real estate is the most popular, it is chosen by about 95% of investors. The minimum investment amount is $400,000.
Turkey allows foreigners to purchase resale and new properties, residential and commercial objects, and land plots. But applicants for citizenship cannot buy objects that have already been used to participate in the program.
In Turkey, there are restrictions on the purchase of real estate for citizens of some countries. For example, foreigners are prohibited from buying land plots larger than 30 hectares, or 300,000 m².
The Turkish citizenship program also provides other investment options. The minimum investment amount for them is $500,000. To obtain a Turkish passport, an investor can:
make a deposit in a bank with a deposit;
buy government bonds;
buy shares of investment funds;
open a business with a capital of $500,000 or create 50 jobs.
With Turkish citizenship, the investor gets the opportunity to come to the country at any time, travel without visas to 111 countries of the world or obtain an E‑2 business visa to move to the United States.
Turkish citizens have access to free medical care in public hospitals, free attendance at kindergartens and education in public schools.
Immigrant Invest is a licensed agent for government programs in the EU and the Caribbean. If you want to obtain Turkish citizenship, please contact investment program experts for advice.
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