Many foreigners, especially Arabs, hope to own a property in Turkey, in order to obtain Turkish citizenship or residency, so they go with investing in Turkey. There are multiple reasons with a main goal of buying a property in Turkey.

The willing to buy a property in Turkey have to pay attention to the following three legal items.

Adopting the narration of the special website called: (Our expatriation is easier), the lawyer (Aqba Barish) the CEO of (Masco Consulting) explained three points that would facilitate the process of buying a property in Turkey and prevent the buyer from falling into traps he should avoid:

Firstly: Paying attention to the points that must be provided in the sales contract:

1- The seller’s detailed information whether is a company or a person, and the same must be for the buyer’s information and both could be hire attorneys with legal attorney notarized by Turkish embassy in the country of origin of the seller and buyer.

2– The property price and payment method (installments, cash)

3– Providing with the title deed document of the property, which includes detailed information about the property, the property number, its  area, the apartment area land number.

4– The date of delivery, and the expected period of delivery delay, with clarification of the penal conditions in case of a delay in delivery.

5– The dates of payment if it is cash or installments with the penal conditions resulting from the delay in paying the monthly installments.

6– Detailed information about the materials used in construction.

7– The contract should be in the Turkish language, and copies of it can be made in other languages. The contract is notarized at the notary.

 8- Paying attention to the real price of the property and identifying it in the contract document to avoid any possible problems of fines.

Secondly:  After notarization of the contract by the notary, it must be submitted the title deed department and the following documents are required for that:

1– Notarized sales contract.

2– Earthquake insurance.

3– A tax number for the buyer and seller.

4– A bank account for payment.

5– Tapu fees amounted to 4% of the property value are usually paid by the buyer, unless there is other agreed suggestions.

To differentiate between two cases:

A – In case of buying a property and paying in cash, the buyer gets the title deed directly.

B – In case of buying a property by installments or purchasing a property under construction, the title deed will not deliver to the buyer until the property is received.

Third: The fees agreed for purchasing the property:

1- When buying the property, the buyer usually pays 4% of the property value, and if the property is owned by more than one owner, then each person pays a portion corresponding to the portion of his ownership in the property.

If you want to resell the property 5 years before spending a period of 5 years of the date of purchase, there is a tax to be paid ranging from 15% to 35% of the net profit, and in the case of selling after five years, no tax is required.

2- The annual real estate tax is paid to the municipality and is equivalent to 0.003 of the total property value.

Turkish media revealed that real estate sales in Turkey rose to 133.58 apartments in March. While in April sold apartments recorded an increase of 38.8 % compared to the same month of the previous year based on Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

Istanbul alone recorded the highest share of apartment sales of 19.8 % amounted to sale of 26,330 apartments followed by Ankara that recorded 12,195 of sold apartments and a share of 9.2 %, then Izmir of 6.4 % with 8.459 sales.

However, the provinces with the lowest number of sold apartments were Ardahan, and Hakkari with 25 apartments, and Bayburt with 47 apartments respectively.

The rise of apartment sales increased by 26.2 % in the January-April period compared to the same period in the previous year that amounted to 453,121 apartments.

Sales of mortgaged apartments have increased by 82.9 % of 32.030 sold apartments across Turkey in April compared to the previous year.

The share of mortgaged apartments of total apartments sales was 24.1%.

 On the other hand, sales of foreclosed homes in the January-April period rose by 55.1% % over the same period a year earlier to record 100,372.

In the same context, sales of other apartments in Turkey increased by 28.9 % in April compared to the same month in the previous year and became 101.28.

The share of other sales in total apartment sales was 75.9 %. On the other hand, other apartment sales achieved in the January-April period rose 19.9% from the same period a year earlier to 352.749.

The number of direct sales reached 36.421. The number of direct housing sales in Turkey increased by 24.7 % in April compared to the same month of the previous year, and became 36.421.

 The share of first apartment sales of total apartment sales was 27.4 %. In the January-April period, direct apartment sales rose 19.4% compared to the same period a year earlier and amounted to 130,858.

 Exchanging 96,637 homes by second hand-homes sales

And sales of second hand-homes in Turkey increased by 45.0 % in April compared to the same month of the previous year and became 96 thousand 637. The share of second hand-home sales of total housing sales was 72.6%. second hand-home sales in January-April increased 29.3 % over the same period a year earlier and amounted to 322,263.

Selling of 6.447 homes

For foreigners, home sales increased by 58.1% in April compared to the same month in the previous year and reached 6,447 apartments. In April, the share of apartment sales to foreigners in total sales was 4.8 %. Istanbul ranked 1^st in residence sales to foreigners, selling 2,564 homes followed by Antalya with 1970 sales, and Ankara with 333 sales respectively.

In the January-April period, home sales to foreigners increased by 48.9 % compared to the same period the previous year and became 20.791.

 Most of the residential sales are to citizens of the Russian Federation.

In April, Russian Federation citizens bought 1,152 apartments from Turkey. Iranians followed Russians with 905 housing units, then the Iraqis with 714 housing units, respectively.

Types of properties could be owned by foreigners in Turkey

Knowing about the ownership requirements in Turkish law is the key help for facilitating the buying process.

All nationalities are eligible for property ownership in Turkey if they meet the requirements except the following states: (Cuba – North Korea – Syria – Armenia – Cyprus) and some adjacent border countries to Turkey such as Greek.

1- Flats:

Buying flats is available for foreigners by all of their types and options either in cash or by installments, whatever the ownership purpose is (residential – work – commercial – investment).

2- Villas:

Villas are available too for buying by foreigners by all options for the different purposes.

3- Lands:

Both agricultural and under-construction lands could be bought and owned by foreigners, especially for investing them and getting the use of crops or even building on the constructional lands.

4- Farms:

Farms are also available for foreigners who are willing to buy farms in Turkey by fair prices and luxurious styles.

5- Shops:

Some investors prefer buying shops in Turkey for commercial purposes within the mega shopping malls or inside the vibrant markets in order to gain its great returns taking the advantage of citizenship obtaining.

6- Mega projects such as shopping malls, education centers and hotels:

And the other various property for high investment, all are available for you.

What is the advantage of property owning in Turkey?

– The eligibility of obtaining Turkish citizenship after owning a property valued to 400000 $ at least, getting Turkish passport and all the rights of Turkish citizen.

– Obtaining investor residency if the property is even below 400000 $.

– Fair price with an amazing features of properties in comparison with outside West countries, knowing that Turkish properties are diverse, luxurious, and high quality.

– High investment return because of tourist priority in Turkey, so that the owners can rent their properties during seasons and gain high profits.

– High living standards with relatively low costs in contrast with outside countries.

– Opening the door for investors to link their investments between the east and the west being inside the Middle Corridor country: Turkey.

– The education advantage for international students to study in public and private Turkish universities with multi-lingual international schools.

– Living in a conservative environment proper for Muslim by a similar Arabic culture, at the same time it has the European civilization characteristics.

A negotiation has been made for increasing the required property exceptionally for obtaining Turkish citizenship.

The agreement has done during the meeting inside the presidential cabin for increasing the required property for obtaining Turkish citizenship from 250000 $ to 400000 $.

On the base of that, there will be some modifications on the (item B) from the second paragraph of article (20) into the executive regulations with regard to Turkish citizenship regulations.

This update has been published in the official press during the past few days, thus obtaining Turkish citizenship through real estate investment new requirements are: Owning a property valued to at least 400000$ or its equal amount of other currencies, provided that not selling the property for the next three years.

Many foreigners, especially Arabs, hope to own a property in Turkey, in order to obtain Turkish citizenship or residency, so they go with investing in Turkey. There are multiple reasons with a main goal of buying a property in Turkey.

The willing to buy a property in Turkey have to pay attention to the following three legal items.

Adopting the narration of the special website called: (Our expatriation is easier), the lawyer (Aqba Barish) the CEO of (Masco Consulting) explained three points that would facilitate the process of buying a property in Turkey and prevent the buyer from falling into traps he should avoid:

Firstly: Paying attention to the points that must be provided in the sales contract:

1- The seller’s detailed information whether is a company or a person, and the same must be for the buyer’s information and both could be hire attorneys with legal attorney notarized by Turkish embassy in the country of origin of the seller and buyer.

2– The property price and payment method (installments, cash)

3– Providing with the title deed document of the property, which includes detailed information about the property, the property number, its  area, the apartment area land number.

4– The date of delivery, and the expected period of delivery delay, with clarification of the penal conditions in case of a delay in delivery.

5– The dates of payment if it is cash or installments with the penal conditions resulting from the delay in paying the monthly installments.

6– Detailed information about the materials used in construction.

7– The contract should be in the Turkish language, and copies of it can be made in other languages. The contract is notarized at the notary.

 8- Paying attention to the real price of the property and identifying it in the contract document to avoid any possible problems of fines.

Secondly:  After notarization of the contract by the notary, it must be submitted the title deed department and the following documents are required for that:

1– Notarized sales contract.

2– Earthquake insurance.

3– A tax number for the buyer and seller.

4– A bank account for payment.

5– Tapu fees amounted to 4% of the property value are usually paid by the buyer, unless there is other agreed suggestions.

To differentiate between two cases:

A – In case of buying a property and paying in cash, the buyer gets the title deed directly.

B – In case of buying a property by installments or purchasing a property under construction, the title deed will not deliver to the buyer until the property is received.

Third: The fees agreed for purchasing the property:

1- When buying the property, the buyer usually pays 4% of the property value, and if the property is owned by more than one owner, then each person pays a portion corresponding to the portion of his ownership in the property.

If you want to resell the property 5 years before spending a period of 5 years of the date of purchase, there is a tax to be paid ranging from 15% to 35% of the net profit, and in the case of selling after five years, no tax is required.

2- The annual real estate tax is paid to the municipality and is equivalent to 0.003 of the total property value.

Many foreigners, especially Arabs, hope to own a property in Turkey, in order to obtain Turkish citizenship or residency, so they go with investing in Turkey. There are multiple reasons with a main goal of buying a property in Turkey.

The willing to buy a property in Turkey have to pay attention to the following three legal items.

Adopting the narration of the special website called: (Our expatriation is easier), the lawyer (Aqba Barish) the CEO of (Masco Consulting) explained three points that would facilitate the process of buying a property in Turkey and prevent the buyer from falling into traps he should avoid:

Firstly: Paying attention to the points that must be provided in the sales contract:

1- The seller’s detailed information whether is a company or a person, and the same must be for the buyer’s information and both could be hire attorneys with legal attorney notarized by Turkish embassy in the country of origin of the seller and buyer.

2– The property price and payment method (installments, cash)

3– Providing with the title deed document of the property, which includes detailed information about the property, the property number, its  area, the apartment area land number.

4– The date of delivery, and the expected period of delivery delay, with clarification of the penal conditions in case of a delay in delivery.

5– The dates of payment if it is cash or installments with the penal conditions resulting from the delay in paying the monthly installments.

6– Detailed information about the materials used in construction.

7– The contract should be in the Turkish language, and copies of it can be made in other languages. The contract is notarized at the notary.

 8- Paying attention to the real price of the property and identifying it in the contract document to avoid any possible problems of fines.

Secondly:  After notarization of the contract by the notary, it must be submitted the title deed department and the following documents are required for that:

1– Notarized sales contract.

2– Earthquake insurance.

3– A tax number for the buyer and seller.

4– A bank account for payment.

5– Tapu fees amounted to 4% of the property value are usually paid by the buyer, unless there is other agreed suggestions.

To differentiate between two cases:

A – In case of buying a property and paying in cash, the buyer gets the title deed directly.

B – In case of buying a property by installments or purchasing a property under construction, the title deed will not deliver to the buyer until the property is received.

Third: The fees agreed for purchasing the property:

1- When buying the property, the buyer usually pays 4% of the property value, and if the property is owned by more than one owner, then each person pays a portion corresponding to the portion of his ownership in the property.

If you want to resell the property 5 years before spending a period of 5 years of the date of purchase, there is a tax to be paid ranging from 15% to 35% of the net profit, and in the case of selling after five years, no tax is required.

2- The annual real estate tax is paid to the municipality and is equivalent to 0.003 of the total property value.

The “Ümraniye” region on the Asian side of Istanbul is considered one of the main regions of the city in general. At it is the largest municipality of all Turkey’s municipalities from which the “Çekmekköy” municipality emerged and it is recorded as one of the largest business gates in Istanbul. By its northern side there are collection for the largest banks and Turkish companies, while in the south the New Istanbul International Financial Center is positioned.

“Ümraniye” is a remark of the retail trade as it represents half of retail trade done in Istanbul with its variety of clothes, furniture, and other Turkish commodities.

In addition to its attracting specifications for those looking for an industrial zone, commercial, and financial region and indeed for real estate investment, especially family residents. “Umraniya” embraces luxurious residential complexes characterized by its distinctive views and facilities

The location:

Ümraniye is located in the Asian side of Istanbul, in the Marmara Sea region, bordered by the Üsküdar region in the west, Ataşehir region in the south, Sancaktepe region in the east and Beykoz region in the north. The region has fourteen neighborhoods, six towns, and four villages, with a total area of 22000 hectares.

The history:

Since the ancient times, “Ümraniye” was merely forests of pine trees. It enjoyed successive dynasties such as the Roman, Byzantine and then Ottoman empire.

During the Ottoman era, Sultan Ahmed I (Aḥmed-i evvel) made it a limitation for Sheikh Aziz Mahmud Hudayi. Since the early days of the Republic of Turkey Ümraniye belonged to the Üsküdar region and it remained classified as a village until 1960, then it became an industrial zone after the urban planning. It achieved an industrial boom, therefore many people flocked to it. Thus, it fulfilled the administrative independence and established its own municipality in 1989.

The nature:

Despite the modernity and advanced position that “Ümraniye” enjoys, it still preserves a significant part of the vegetation cover and the green spaces in it. It is one of the most suitable regions for residing for its complexes containing glamorous green spaces imitating to the European projects in terms of modernity and luxury of the large green spaces they have.

“Ümraniye” is a central transportation axis:

It has the most important land transportation routes embodying the backbone of Istanbul life as the “TEM” road: the main lifelines in Istanbul, passes many parts of the region.

In the north of it, the road leading to “Şile”: one of the most important tourist attractions in Istanbul is located and the metro line that connects Üsküdar to the Sancaktepe passes through it.

It is also characterized by transportation availability with buses for the lines of the Directorate of Public Transport in Istanbul covering all its areas.

Why Ümraniye is good for real estate investment?

“Ümraniye” is rapidly growing and urbanizing the most in Istanbul becoming one of the central areas in Istanbul, because of its proximity to the Istanbul International Financial Center, and to the “Üsküdar” metro line, which raises the investment opportunities of its properties, in addition to many factors that make Ümraniye one of the best options in the field of real estate investment in Istanbul.

The giant project is located in Ümraniye:

Istanbul International Business Center project has become globally remarkable that will provide its services in Ümraniye region through a large number of first-class offices and business centers give the city more dominance and global commercial centralization. It will include centers for all private and public banks in Turkey. Certainly, this center will give Ümraniye region more value raising the real estate investment opportunities in it as well.

Due to the diversity of investment motivations that we talked about them previously, Turkey has a target by lots of businessmen so it turned to be as an attracting Qibla for foreign investment, especially the Arabic ones, as a result more of investment opportunities into the various sectors such as:

1- Real estate investment:

Turkey by both of its sides: European and Asian sides is very active in real estate market by owning a plenty of property projects attracting the investors from all over the world.

In addition to Istanbul, All Ankara, Trabzon, Sakarya, Bursa, and Antalya are all active in real estate market and they have the best properties that meet the investors needs by cheaper prices than Istanbul’s.

The last five years had a property flourish, great investment, huge turnout by foreign businessmen for owning properties in Turkey, especially after the government facilities such as reducing the property price required from obtaining Turkish citizenship million $ to 250000 $ that is modified recently to become (400000 $), as well as reducing the bank deposit for citizenship to 500000 $, as a result lots of investors have been encouraged to invest into Turkish real estate.

In addition, the tax discounts made by Turkish government motivated for investment and the high profits of Turkish real estate that guarantees high profits all contributed in flourishing the Turkish real estate market.

In this context, all of real estate companies have competed for offering best offers of apartments, hotels, luxurious villas, business centers, and lands as the investment chances varied because of the diversity of Turkish atmosphere for investment.

2- Tourist investment:

Tourist utilities in the different Turkish states provide a cohesion foundation for establishing a set of tourist investments in Turkey as tourism sector is characterized by diversity of the lovely landmarks and tourist attractions such as the marine beaches, the medical resorts and the vocational parks that satisfies all tastes.

Also, the strong infrastructure that Turkey has in all sectors, especially in tourism provides the investors with different investment fields. For instance, the tourist hotels that are very popular and ready for investment to receive a high number of tourists within different times of the year with high profits, the shopping malls is very good for investment by its content of shops, coffee shops, restaurants, gyms, and cinemas that are profitable in a high returns, the tourist facilities such as rest buildings distributed along with the borders among states, and restaurants, coffee shops, recreational resorts, chalets and apartment allocated for annual renting.

3– Commercial investment:

The Turkish famous brandmarks and high-quality products attract foreigners coming from outside to invest in Turkey by importing and exporting.

Also, the commercial facilities such as factories, shops, offices and warehouses are all support the commercial investments and provide the necessary infrastructure for all kind of commercial investment.

Turkey became the investment gate for European investors as many international companies directed into Turkey.

The well-known Swedish company for furniture: (IKEA), the clothes company (LPP) that its headquarters in Poland and other companies: (Boehringer Ingelheim), (DW Reusables) they all started up their investment activities in Turkey because of its proper environment.

4– Agricultural investment:

The agricultural investment in Turkey achieves high returns when using professionals in this sector because of the good specifications of agriculture in Turkey like:

– Wide spaces of lands available for agriculture.

– Variety of crops that can be imported to the outside such as walnuts, hazelnuts, tea and olives with other crops.

– Plenty of manpower who are specialized in agriculture.

– Availability of water sources like springs, and groundwater wells into different Turkish regions.

– Appropriate climate for planting various crops.

– Modern agricultural machines, in addition to pesticides, fertilizers and all needed materials for agriculture.

5- Industrial investment:

Industrial investment is very important to Turkey, especially for businessmen who always in need of new market for their businesses or starting up their business within a proper investment environment.

The proper environment for industrial investment that Turkey owns such as powerful infrastructure, industries and the Industrial zones in all Turkish states encourages for constructing projects in the different sectors:

The important industrial investment fields in Turkey are:

·         Building materials industry.

·         Furniture industry in all types.

·         Electronics industries.

·         Manufacture of water purification instruments.

·         Textile and garment industry.

·         Iron, steel and metal industries.

·         chemical industries.

·         Auto parts industry in all types.

·         Iron and plastic molds industry

·         The advantageous location for investment between other countries

The advantageous location of Turkey being within two continents together and its nearby to Arab countries gives advantages to the investment activities for all sectors.

In addition, the great geographical area of Turkey reaches to more than 780000 km and the strategic location among the other countries, and the common borders with many countries such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Greece and Georgia all made Turkey as a commercial bridge between Europe, Asia and Arab countries at the same time.

Moreover, the Bosporus Strait representing a marine corridor for the commercial convoys connecting Europe with Asia, and the multiplicity of harbors in Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir, Mersin, and other Turkish states overlooking the seas, are all positive factors that define Turkey from other countries in the world in terms of investment.

Recently, the Turkish government has planned to build giant medical buildings throughout the country such as several large hospitals and medical centers aiming for providing advanced medical services to Turkish citizens and foreigners, thus Turkey entered the world of giant medical buildings on the international level.

Medical cities, or as they called: “city hospitals”, have become a treatment destination for either citizens or tourists from all over the world after the outstanding privilege.

The government continues to open new medical cities in several states including: Istanbul, Mersin, Kayseri, Ankara, Manisa, and Adana.

The capacity of these medical cities reaches more than 17,842 beds beside 2,831 clinics, 1,999 intensive care units (ICU), and 410 operating theatres by using the most modern medical equipment and facilities in the world.

Taking into account that Turkey has 13 medical cities in total and within this year 5 additional medical cities will be operated, whereas the hospitals built in Kocaeli, Kütahya, Ankara, Gaziantep and Izmir will be into service by 2022.

1- Bursa City Hospital:

Bursa hospital which is the same medical center of Southern Marmara serving 1.3 million patients monthly since it started off. It is considered one of the leading hospitals in Turkey in terms of healthcare provided for patients by all of the staff owing to the interior area of 475,000 square meters.

The giant medical complex consists of 6 blocks by 4 thousand employees with patients’ treatment capacity of 200 thousand patients monthly. It serves not only Bursa’s patients but also the other nearby states.

2- Isparta City Hospital:

While the Isparta City Hospital served a total of 6 million and 860 thousand patients within 4.5 years, it also did a great job during the pandemic.

The medical complex received more than 47,150 out of a million and 844 thousand patients who were diagnosed with the “Corona” virus epidemic.

Isparta City Hospital was inaugurated on 24^th of March 2017 by the Prime Minister: Binali Yıldırım and it became very important medical Centre in the region during the past 4.5 years.

The hospital which has very advanced equipment, was built with an area of 222,571 square meters by a capacity of 755 beds.

3- Important records in Manisa City Hospital:

Manisa City Hospital provides an added value in terms of economical services and recovery speed, as it receives 1.5 million patients every single year.

4- A capacity of 1.3 million patients in Konya Hospital:

Since 5^th of August 2020, Konya hospital has started receiving patients by its first stage of 838 beds.

Within the second stage completion in May 2020, it took a capacity of 1,250 beds. The hospital has received 1,298,127 patients since the first day. Moreover, it provides services not only to Konya but also to the surrounding cities.

5- City Hospital Mersin:

During the epidemic, Mersin City Hospital has not stopped, especially for stroke, heart and oncology patients.

Its capacity has increased from 1,300 to 1,377, and the number of intensive care units (ICU) from 204 to 283.

The hospital has achieved more than 480,000 surgeries which has treated more than 2 million citizens in the 4.5 years since the opening

6- Erzurum City Hospital:

Erzurum City Hospital is the medical center of Eastern Anatolia Region. It has hosted 1,250,000 patients since it started off in April 2020.

Given the strong infrastructure and technological capabilities that the hospital has, it contribute to 95% of the epidemic burden.

As well as the hospital contributes to treating 50% of the patients in Eastern Anatolia.

It is noteworthy that Turkey now owns a large convoy of 5,400 ambulances, as well as 19 helicopters specified for medical services.

The size of medical health workers in Turkey is more than 1.4 million, and the Turkish government has allocated more than 200 billion TRY to the Ministry of Health in the 2020 budget.

7- Göztepe City Hospital:

The hospital has 604 beds, 175 clinics, 27 operating rooms, 52 emergency rooms, and 80 intensive care units (ICU) since the very beginning of the first stage.

Then the second stage of capacity expanded to 1116 beds, 239 clinics, 28 operating rooms, 38 for childbirth rooms, 52 emergency rooms, and 80 intensive care units (ICU).

The city was built on an area of 245,667 aiming to provide the best available services to all citizens and foreigners.

It is worth noting that the medical city is equipped with insulators to reduce any possible damages to the buildings, so that the medical staff can continue activities and operations even during the emergency cases or incidents.

And according to ministry of health: Göztepe Medical City will be top one in cardiovascular surgery centers, heart attack diseases, stroke treatment with high-quality medical care for nearly 6-7 thousand patients per day.

Also, it will contain an emergency equipment and planes airstrip to carry patients coming from outside Istanbul, and it will also contain 1431 car parks of which 796 are open outdoors and 635 are closed indoors.

8- Medical City in Adana Province:

The medical city of Adana has opened in 2017 and it has been classified as the largest medical complexes in Turkey. It provides medical and treatment services to 16,000 people on a daily basis through a medical staff of 5,000 people with a capacity of 1,550 beds.

Medical cities in Turkey played an active role in combating the Corona virus showed their effective response in managing the crisis by providing all necessary support of medical services to all Turks and foreigners in need of health care.

Turkey did not hesitate in even manufacturing the necessary equipment from respirators and exporting them to the worldwide. It was a leading country about crisis management effectiveness by providing all kind of medical support, treatment, health insurance coverage for all citizens categories, and the achieving the recovery, unlike what happened in the developed countries in Europe and America!

Currently, several hospital projects are under construction, so the government aims to provide about 32 beds for each hospital for every 10,000 citizens in Turkey by the year 2023.