A New Era at the Land Registry: Underreporting Ends, Real Sale Prices Become Mandatory

Underreported property sales fuelled major tax losses

For many years in Turkey, it was common practice for a property with a real market value of 10 million lira to be declared at the land registry at a much lower assessed value, such as 3 million lira. While this reduced costs for buyers and sellers, it also led to serious tax losses and expanded the informal economy.

In such transactions, instead of paying 400,000 lira in title deed fees, parties paid only 120,000 lira, causing an estimated 280,000 lira loss for the state. Newly introduced, tighter controls on money movements are expected to eliminate this practice entirely.

Declared prices and bank transfers must match

Although municipality-set assessed values are expected to remain below actual market prices in 2026, concealing the real sale amount will no longer be possible due to mandatory bank transfers.

As of 2 January 2026, buyers and sellers will be required to transfer the full declared sale price through the banking system. The amount stated at the land registry must be paid in full via bank transfer. Banks will request explanations and, when necessary, supporting documents showing the purpose of the payment. This measure will effectively prevent property sales from being recorded at artificially low values.

The belief that large sums can simply be withdrawn in cash and go unnoticed is also losing validity. High-value cash withdrawals will require a declared purpose, and any attempt to reintroduce that cash into the financial system will trigger requests for explanations and documentation. All such transactions will be regularly monitored.

Long-standing practices now under scrutiny

Sector representatives say that methods once widely used are now fully under oversight. Transactions where only a small portion of the sale price was officially declared, while the remainder was moved through other accounts, are no longer expected to go unquestioned.

The main reasons behind underreporting are cited as high title deed fees and potential income tax liabilities. For this reason, calls for a one-time declaration amnesty have been renewed.

Assessed value system may be phased out

Industry sources indicate that the assessed value system could be completely abolished in the near future. Ongoing efforts aim to make property valuation reports mandatory for sales, ensuring that title deeds are issued based on real market prices.

A proposed 50 percent reduction in title deed fees is also on the agenda. If the total fee rate is reduced from 4 percent to 2 percent, buyers and sellers would be able to complete transactions at significantly lower cost.

Under the planned changes, transactions based on real sale prices are expected to become the standard from the second half of 2026.

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