Following
the change in the Foreign Ownership law in Turkey, the real estate sector has
witnessed remarkable growth over the last 6 years. Turkey has become a prime
destination for Arab and other investors and owners who wish to carry out
investment projects or buy houses in Turkey.
Istanbul
ranked first in the list of the most prominent destinations for investors in
the real estate sector in Turkey, followed by Antalya, then Bursa, Yalova,
Ankara and Izmir.
According
to Turkish Statistics Institute, the total number of properties sold in Turkey
during the first 11 months of last year amounted to 20.070 properties,
registering a growth of 21.3% compared to the same period of 2016.
Article
35 of the Turkish Property Rights Act of 2012 provides that a foreigner is
entitled to own immovable property purchased and does not fall within a
military zone or any land belonging to the Turkish government.
In
Turkey, a foreigner can buy a house and complete the transfer procedures within
one day, by following five steps to acquire a property:
The
first step is that the buyer has to be present personally to sign the purchasing
contract.
Second
step is to extract the tax number from any Tax Department, which is given to
every foreigner in Turkey, to facilitate the official private transactions with
it.
The
third step is to open a bank account in one of the Turkish banks to transfer
the money from the resident country to the Turkish bank.
Followed by the fourth step of providing a translated image into the Turkish language of the buyer's passport, certified by the notary.
The fifth and last step is for the seller and the buyer to go to the registration office "Tabu", to transfer the property to the buyer, and receive the last title and title of the property.
If
the property is not ready for delivery, such as buying a house under
construction from a real estate company, the title deed is not delivered to the
buyer until the house is handed over.
The
real estate purchasing tax in Turkey is about 4% of the buying price, it is
paid equally at 2% by the seller, as well as by the buyer.
The purchaser of the property is entitled to obtain a "real estate residence permit" from the Ministry of the Interior for 1-year and it's granted exclusively to foreigners who own real estate within the Turkish territory.