Turkey

• Housing, shops, offices, warehouses — in your own name, in full ownership. There are no separate "zones for foreigners", as in the UAE.
• Protected zones are closed to purchase; in special security zones the governor's permission is needed.
• Two general restrictions: 30 hectares per person across the country; for all foreigners together, no more than 10% of the area of a district. In popular districts the second limit may be used up — this is checked in the land registry before the deal.
• The rules are the same in all eleven places we studied. The places differ not in rules but in the market: who buys, how many, and at what price.

Buying:

Holding:

• Property tax: 0.2% a year in large cities, 0.1% outside them. It is calculated on the cadastral valuation, which is usually lower than the market price.
• Earthquake insurance is compulsory. From July 2026 the insured value is 11,357 lira per square metre for a reinforced-concrete building, with cover of no more than 2.4 million lira (about $49k). This is less than the market price of an apartment: the compulsory policy does not cover the full value.

Selling:

• Ownership for longer than five years — the gain is not taxed.
• Before five years — the gain is taxed on the general scale of 15–40%, less a tax-free 150 thousand lira (about $3k).
• Citizenship through purchase requires not selling for three years; the tax relief takes five. These are different periods.

Long-term (more than 100 days):

• Open without permits; a written contract and tax reporting are needed.
• The parties set the starting rent freely. On renewal the increase is limited to average inflation over 12 months.

Short-term (up to 100 days):

• A permit from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is needed, obtained before the first contract.
• In an apartment building the consent of all owners is required. One owner may let in this way no more than a quarter of the apartments in the building.
• Villas do not need the neighbours' consent.
• Fines for operating without a permit are significant; for Bodrum the base records 180 thousand lira (about $3.6k).

Rental tax:

Either the actual expenses or 15% without documents is deducted from the income. For residential rent in 2026 the first 58 thousand lira (about $1.2k) are not taxed; whether this relief applies to a non-resident, the sources do not say directly.

This is the tax in Turkey. The tax in the investor's country of residence depends on their passport and residence status and is calculated separately.

The loan ceiling depends on the price of the home (banking regulator rules, January 2026):

If the borrower already owns a home, the ceilings are lower. The rules do not speak separately about non-residents. With inflation of 30–45%, lira interest rates are high; this section describes the ceilings, not the availability of a loan to a foreigner.

• Citizenship: property from $400k, with an undertaking not to sell for three years.
• Residence permit: granted on buying a home from $200k (the threshold has applied since 16 October 2023), for two years with renewal, while the home is owned. Commercial property does not give the right to it. The price in the title document must be no lower than the threshold, with payment through a bank. The threshold amount is named by Turkish law firms; it is not stated on the official page of the investment agency.
• Districts where the foreign share among residents is exceeded are closed to new residence permits — in Istanbul and in a number of other provinces. A purchase there is possible, but a residence permit at that address is not. The status of a district is checked on the day the documents are filed, not on the day of purchase.

Turkish prices cannot be shown as a single figure. Q1 2015 — Q2 2026:

What this means:

• For a buyer holding dollars, the bottom row is the right one. From 2015 to 2021 housing in real dollars lost 43%. All the growth came in 2022 and early 2023; since then it has been almost flat.
• In dollars without adjustment, prices are at a historical high. Adjusted for dollar inflation, this is a return to slightly above the 2015 level.
• For a resident of Turkey, housing rose by 81% above local inflation, but has lost 20% since the 2023 peak.
• The cost of construction in real dollars has hardly changed over eleven years (−4%). Housing outpaced construction by 15%; in Dubai over six years, by 52%.
• For comparison: Dubai over 2020–2025 gave 5.4% a year in real dollars.

The lira: from 2.46 to the dollar in 2015 to 45.5 in 2026. Inflation in 2024–2025 was 30–45% a year.

Sales of housing to foreigners, for the country:

Demand has fallen to a third of the peak and is still declining: January–August 2026 — 13.1 thousand against 14.0 a year earlier.

By place, the last 12 months (September 2025 — August 2026):

By citizenship, the whole country: Russia 3,748 (in 2022 — 17,198), Iran 1,930, Ukraine 1,528, Iraq 1,329, Germany 1,320, China 1,070, Azerbaijan 951. Of the top seven only China is growing.

What can be seen:

• Two markets — two different stories. Antalya and Mersin are the coast, with buyers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Kazakhstan. Istanbul — Iran, China, the Arab countries. The Black Sea coast and the Sea of Marmara — buyers from the Gulf states and Iraq.
• One district is a fifth of the country. Alanya: 4,639 purchases in a year, 21% of all sales to foreigners in Turkey. In 2022 there were 14,764.
• In Istanbul foreigners buy on the western outskirts: Esenyurt (1,966), Beylikdüzü (839), Başakşehir (788), Bağcılar (664). This is mass new development, not the historic centre.
• Mersin is the third market of the country: Erdemli (964) and Mezitli (521) — an inexpensive coast with the same mix of buyers as in Antalya.

The directory holds 93 areas in four places: Istanbul 46, Antalya 19, Izmir 15, Bodrum and the Muğla coast 13.

• Permitted. The consumer protection law applies: a notarised contract is needed, and payments follow the construction stages.
• A separate project account under the supervision of a regulator, as in Dubai, is not confirmed by the approved records — payment protection must be checked for each contract.
• The discount to ready housing in Istanbul is 20–35%.
• Seismic risk. Buildings must meet the 2018 standards; when buying, check the building permit and the occupancy certificate (iskan).

The directory holds 14 developers, among them: the state-owned Emlak Konut, Sinpaş, Ağaoğlu, Nef, Sur Yapı, Mesa, Varyap, Dumankaya.

Listings: Sahibinden, Hepsiemlak, Emlakjet, Zingat. Auctions: the state court-sales platform (UYAP).

What can be bought. A foreign individual may own shops, offices and warehouses in their own name. The restrictions are the same as for residential: up to 30 hectares, no more than 10% of the area of a district, protected zones are closed, and in security zones the governor's permission is needed. The page of the state investment agency speaks of property in general and contains no separate prohibition on commercial properties. For Istanbul a consultants' site says the same. A company or licence is not named as mandatory.

What differs from residential:

• Registration duty. The same as for residential, 4%.
• VAT on purchase. 20% if the seller is a VAT payer. This is from an accountant's article of 10 July 2023, not from the official table of the tax service. A VAT refund to a private individual is not confirmed. VAT on rent and the annual tax on a commercial property are not yet recorded in our base.
• Rental tax. A business tenant usually withholds the tax on the rent of an office or shop themselves. This is from a law-firm page. The withholding rate is not named there, and we do not state it. The 58 thousand lira (about $1.2k) relief applies only to residential rent.
• Lease contract. The terms are set by the parties. On renewal the increase in rent is limited to average inflation over 12 months. This applies also to covered non-residential premises; the 25% ceiling applied only to residential. The source is a lawyer's site; we have not opened the text of the law in a readable form.

Hotels and serviced apartments sold as an investment: there is nothing in the records yet, neither rules nor warnings.

Residence permit and commercial property: the commercial records do not yet cover this.

Office rents, Istanbul:

The growth of the top rate over the year is 13%. The consultants' figures describe the top of the market, not what a private individual usually buys.

Where it is concentrated. The office districts of Istanbul: Levent-Etiler (the highest rate), Maslak, Esentepe-Gayrettepe-Zincirlikuyu. The directory also lists several mixed-use quarters, with homes and offices: Fikirtepe, Kağıthane, Kartal, Levent (the Yeni Levent project on the Emlak Konut site), Tarlabaşı. Shopping streets and logistics parks are not yet confirmed.

What is not yet available: yield on commercial property, vacant space, rental rates for shops and warehouses, prices of small properties, mortgage on commercial property, VAT on rent, the annual tax, the rate of withholding on rental tax, rules for hotels and apartments.