Foreigners buy 385,000 houses in Turkey in the last 11 years

Foreigners have bought 385,000 houses in Turkey in 11 years.  It is stated that three out of four properties sold to foreigners were intended for gaining citizenship. The removal of barriers to immovable property acquisition for foreigners in 2012, followed by the practice of granting citizenship for money, increased property sales to this group.

The implementation of the Reciprocity Law, which lifted the restrictions on foreigners buying immovable property in Turkey, from May 2012 until the end of February 2024, resulted in the sale of 384,519 houses to foreigners. The price for citizenship through real estate purchases was reduced from $1 million to $250,000 starting from September 2018. However, following intense reactions, this amount was increased to $400,000 on June 13, 2022.

The year with the highest number of real estate sales to foreigners was 2022, with 67,940 sales. In 2021, foreigners bought a total of 58,576 properties. However, last year, real estate sales to foreigners decreased by nearly half compared to 2022, dropping to the level of 35,000 units.

According to a report in Cumhuriyet newspaper, while the share of housing sales to foreigners within total housing sales was 4.5% in 2022, this rate dropped to 2.9% in 2023. The reasons for the decrease in foreign property purchases in Turkey are stated to be the increase in prices in dollar terms, earthquake risk, and the raising of limits for citizenship and residence permits.