In May 2012 Türkiye changed the rule that decided which foreigners could own property. Until then, a foreigner could buy only if Turks could buy in their country. From 18 May 2012, citizens of 183 countries could buy, and the numbers that followed tell the story of Türkiye's property market as the world discovered it.
This page gathers the official statistics for every year since: how many homes were sold in Türkiye and in Istanbul, how many went to foreigners, who those buyers were, and what moved the numbers. It uses data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and is updated every year.
At a glance
| Figure | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Homes sold in Türkiye | 1,760,292 (the highest on record) |
| Change on 2024 | +13.6% |
| Homes sold in Istanbul | 310,453 (17.6% of Türkiye) |
| Homes sold to foreigners | 22,980 (1.3% of all sales) |
| Sold to foreigners in Istanbul | 9,101 (39.6% of foreign sales) |
| Largest group of foreign buyers | Russia (3,803 homes) |
| Peak year for foreign sales | 2022, with 72,342 homes |
The 2012 reform that opened the market
For most of the Republic's history, Article 35 of the Title Deed Law (No. 2644) let foreigners buy property in Türkiye only on the basis of reciprocity: if a Turkish citizen could buy property in your country, you could buy in Türkiye. The rule was rewritten several times in the 2000s: the Constitutional Court annulled amendments in 2005 and again in 2007, foreign purchases were suspended for a period in 2008, and Law No. 5782 restored the system in July 2008. Still, reciprocity remained the test.
Law No. 6302, adopted on 3 May 2012 and in force from 18 May 2012 (Official Gazette No. 28296), replaced that test. Instead of checking each country's own law, the Council of Ministers (today the President) would name the countries whose citizens may buy, "in view of bilateral relations and national interests". The new rules also set two limits:
- foreigners together may own no more than 10% of a district's private land; and
- a single foreigner may own no more than 30 hectares across Türkiye, which the President can double.
The first list followed in Council of Ministers Decision 2012/3504 of 25 June 2012. It named 183 countries, up from around 53 whose citizens had been able to buy without a reciprocity check. Today citizens of 185 countries can buy. The list itself is not published; any land registry office confirms whether a nationality is on it.
That is why this page starts here. Everything below happened after the market opened.
A note on the data
- Source. All figures are from TÜİK's house sales statistics, based on title deed transfers recorded by the Land Registry.
- Revised series. In February 2026 TÜİK revised its housing figures back to 2013, now counting properties used as homes even where the title deed classifies them otherwise. Every year rose by about 5–9%. The tables below use the revised series; news reports written before 2026 quote the original, lower figures.
- Starting year. TÜİK's series begins in January 2013, the first full year after the reform. There is no comparable official figure for 2012.
- Joint buyers. One home can be bought by several people of different nationalities, so counts by nationality can add up to more than the total.
House sales in Türkiye, 2013–2025
| Year | Homes sold | Change | First-hand | Second-hand | Share with a mortgage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 1,226,989 | n/a | 583,459 | 643,530 | 40.0% |
| 2014 | 1,240,914 | +1.1% | 594,150 | 646,764 | 33.8% |
| 2015 | 1,349,322 | +8.7% | 640,199 | 709,123 | 33.8% |
| 2016 | 1,417,035 | +5.0% | 685,676 | 731,359 | 33.3% |
| 2017 | 1,493,086 | +5.4% | 718,104 | 774,982 | 33.4% |
| 2018 | 1,468,238 | −1.7% | 715,589 | 752,649 | 20.0% |
| 2019 | 1,439,063 | −2.0% | 563,419 | 875,644 | 24.8% |
| 2020 | 1,608,300 | +11.8% | 530,037 | 1,078,263 | 37.7% |
| 2021 | 1,609,561 | +0.1% | 527,473 | 1,082,088 | 19.6% |
| 2022 | 1,625,774 | +1.0% | 547,058 | 1,078,716 | 18.7% |
| 2023 | 1,330,135 | −18.2% | 442,484 | 887,651 | 14.3% |
| 2024 | 1,549,760 | +16.5% | 517,600 | 1,032,160 | 10.8% |
| 2025 | 1,760,292 | +13.6% | 570,812 | 1,189,480 | 14.1% |
Two long shifts stand out. Until 2018 new and resale homes sold in roughly equal numbers; since 2019 two in three sales are resales, as new construction slowed and older stock changed hands. And the share of homes bought with a mortgage fell from a third to about one in ten by 2024, as interest rates rose (with a brief exception in 2020, when cheap public-bank loans pushed it to 38%).
Istanbul
| Year | Homes sold | Share of Türkiye |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 265,318 | 21.6% |
| 2014 | 260,579 | 21.0% |
| 2015 | 265,621 | 19.7% |
| 2016 | 259,127 | 18.3% |
| 2017 | 268,174 | 18.0% |
| 2018 | 265,956 | 18.1% |
| 2019 | 268,864 | 18.7% |
| 2020 | 298,541 | 18.6% |
| 2021 | 312,109 | 19.4% |
| 2022 | 292,590 | 18.0% |
| 2023 | 223,643 | 16.8% |
| 2024 | 266,471 | 17.2% |
| 2025 | 310,453 | 17.6% |
Istanbul consistently accounts for about one in six homes sold in Türkiye. Its busiest year was 2021; 2025 came close, with 310,453 sales.
Sales to foreigners, 2013–2025
| Year | Türkiye | Share of all sales | Change | Istanbul | Istanbul's share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 13,581 | 1.1% | n/a | 2,984 | 22.0% |
| 2014 | 20,395 | 1.6% | +50.2% | 6,354 | 31.2% |
| 2015 | 24,249 | 1.8% | +18.9% | 8,106 | 33.4% |
| 2016 | 19,435 | 1.4% | −19.9% | 6,408 | 33.0% |
| 2017 | 23,956 | 1.6% | +23.3% | 9,201 | 38.4% |
| 2018 | 43,084 | 2.9% | +79.8% | 16,374 | 38.0% |
| 2019 | 49,590 | 3.4% | +15.1% | 23,855 | 48.1% |
| 2020 | 44,167 | 2.7% | −10.9% | 21,626 | 49.0% |
| 2021 | 63,449 | 3.9% | +43.7% | 29,874 | 47.1% |
| 2022 | 72,342 | 4.4% | +14.0% | 28,010 | 38.7% |
| 2023 | 37,497 | 2.8% | −48.2% | 12,776 | 34.1% |
| 2024 | 25,677 | 1.7% | −31.5% | 9,605 | 37.4% |
| 2025 | 22,980 | 1.3% | −10.5% | 9,101 | 39.6% |
In ten years foreign sales rose more than fivefold, from 13,581 in 2013 to a peak of 72,342 in 2022, when one in every 23 homes sold in Türkiye went to a foreign buyer. They have fallen every year since. In 2025 the share was 1.3%, the lowest since 2013, even as the market as a whole set a record.
Istanbul has been the first choice of foreign buyers in every year except 2013, 2014 and 2023, when Antalya led. At its height, in 2019 and 2020, nearly half of all foreign purchases in Türkiye were in Istanbul.
Where foreigners bought in 2025
| Rank | Province | Homes sold to foreigners |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Istanbul | 9,101 |
| 2 | Antalya | 7,237 |
| 3 | Mersin | 1,929 |
| 4 | Ankara | 772 |
| 5 | Yalova | 467 |
Istanbul and Antalya together took 71% of all sales to foreigners.
Who buys: the top nationalities
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Russia (2,785) | UK (1,265) | Germany (1,003) | Norway (929) | Kuwait (693) |
| 2014 | Russia (2,975) | Iraq (2,209) | Kuwait (2,177) | Saudi Arabia (1,675) | UK (1,242) |
| 2015 | Iraq (4,583) | Saudi Arabia (2,780) | Kuwait (2,251) | Russia (2,104) | UK (1,040) |
| 2016 | Iraq (3,261) | Saudi Arabia (2,018) | Kuwait (1,793) | Russia (1,241) | Afghanistan (1,238) |
| 2017 | Iraq (4,056) | Saudi Arabia (3,568) | Kuwait (1,797) | Russia (1,409) | Afghanistan (1,114) |
| 2018 | Iraq (8,841) | Iran (3,915) | Saudi Arabia (3,188) | Russia (2,389) | Kuwait (2,327) |
| 2019 | Iraq (8,268) | Iran (5,757) | Russia (3,047) | Saudi Arabia (2,404) | Afghanistan (2,299) |
| 2020 | Iran (7,679) | Iraq (7,151) | Russia (3,247) | Afghanistan (1,912) | Germany (1,402) |
| 2021 | Iran (10,930) | Iraq (9,351) | Russia (5,626) | Afghanistan (2,792) | Germany (2,598) |
| 2022 | Russia (17,198) | Iran (9,004) | Iraq (6,834) | Germany (2,928) | Kazakhstan (2,805) |
| 2023 | Russia (11,061) | Iran (4,717) | Iraq (2,094) | Ukraine (1,811) | Germany (1,500) |
| 2024 | Russia (5,116) | Iran (2,391) | Ukraine (1,682) | Germany (1,423) | Iraq (1,400) |
| 2025 | Russia (3,803) | Iran (2,076) | Ukraine (1,604) | Germany (1,419) | Iraq (1,354) |
The buyers changed with the world around them. Russian and European buyers (British, German, Norwegian) shaped the first years after the reform. From 2015 to 2019 buyers from Iraq and the Gulf led, drawn by the 2018 citizenship rules. Iranian buyers led in 2020 and 2021, and since 2022 Russians have been the largest group every year, joined by Ukrainians and Kazakhs.
What moved the numbers
- 2012: the reform. Law No. 6302 opens ownership to citizens of 183 countries from 18 May.
- 2017: VAT exemption. From 1 April 2017 non-resident foreigners buying a first-hand home with money brought from abroad can be exempt from VAT.
- 2018: citizenship for USD 250,000. In September 2018 the property threshold for Turkish citizenship falls from USD 1 million to USD 250,000, in the same months as a sharp fall in the lira. Foreign sales rise by 80% in a year, while mortgaged sales across the market collapse.
- 2020: the pandemic and cheap loans. Foreign sales dip, but low-rate loans from public banks lift total sales to a record at the time and push the mortgage share to 38%.
- 2021–2022: the peak. Foreign demand climbs to 72,342 homes in 2022, led by buyers from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
- June 2022: citizenship for USD 400,000. From 13 June 2022 the citizenship threshold rises to USD 400,000, and from May 2022 a VAT-exempt home must be kept for three years instead of one.
- 2023: residence permit for USD 200,000. From October 2023 a property-based residence permit requires a home worth at least USD 200,000, up from USD 75,000 in the big cities. Together with neighbourhoods closed to new foreign residents and prices rising with inflation, foreign sales fall by 48% in 2023, 32% in 2024 and 10% in 2025.
- 2025: a record market. Total sales reach 1,760,292, and mortgage lending recovers, while foreign buyers make up the smallest share since 2013.
2026 so far
In the first eight months of 2026, 950,529 homes were sold in Türkiye, 6.8% fewer than in the same months of 2025, and 13,141 of them went to foreigners (−6.3%). Istanbul is the exception: sales to foreigners there rose 3.5% to 5,716, and the city's share of foreign purchases reached 43.5%, its highest since 2021. Mortgaged sales are up 27.6%, at almost one in five of all sales.
This section is updated as TÜİK publishes each month's figures; the full-year 2026 numbers will be added in January 2027.
What the numbers mean for a buyer
- Istanbul is where foreign demand concentrates. Four in ten foreign purchases in 2025 (and more so far in 2026) were in the city, so resale liquidity for international buyers is deepest here.
- Fewer foreign buyers means less competition. With foreign demand at its lowest share in a decade, buyers today face fewer rival offers from abroad than in 2019–2022.
- Resales dominate. Two thirds of the market is second-hand, so much of the choice in established districts is in older buildings, which makes the title and building checks in our buying guide all the more important.
- Rules drive demand. The sharpest moves in this series followed changes to the citizenship and residence rules. Our guides to citizenship, residence permits and property taxes explain the rules in force today.
Sources
- TÜİK: House and Commercial Property Sales Statistics, August 2026 (opens an external site)
- TÜİK: House and Commercial Property Sales Statistics, January 2026 (revision notice) (opens an external site)
- TÜİK: House Sales Statistics, December 2025 (opens an external site)
- TÜİK data portal: house sales by type, province and nationality (opens an external site)
- Official Gazette of 18 May 2012: Law No. 6302 (opens an external site)
- Your Key Türkiye (Presidency Investment Office): property purchases by foreigners (opens an external site)
- Anadolu Agency: sales to foreigners 2013–2024 (opens an external site)
Figures are TÜİK's revised series as published in September 2026 and may be revised again. This page is general information, not investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
9 questions foreign buyers ask us most, grouped by topic.
The market
How many homes were sold in Turkey in 2025?
1,760,292, according to TÜİK's revised series. That is the highest annual figure on record, and 13.6% more than in 2024. Istanbul accounted for 310,453 of them, or 17.6%.
Foreign buyers
How many homes did foreigners buy in Turkey in 2025?
22,980 homes, 10.5% fewer than in 2024 and 1.3% of all sales, the lowest share since the series began in 2013. Istanbul was the first choice, with 9,101 sales to foreigners.
Which year had the most sales to foreigners?
2022, with 72,342 homes sold to foreign buyers (4.4% of all sales). Russian buyers alone accounted for 17,198 of them, the largest single-nationality figure on record.
Which nationalities buy the most property in Turkey?
In 2025 the top five were Russia, Iran, Ukraine, Germany and Iraq. Buyers from Iraq led from 2015 to 2019, Iran in 2020 and 2021, and Russia every year since 2022.
Why have sales to foreigners fallen since 2022?
The reasons most often cited are the higher citizenship threshold of USD 400,000 from June 2022, the USD 200,000 minimum for a property-based residence permit from October 2023, neighbourhoods closed to new foreign residents, and prices that rose with inflation.
The reform
What was the 2012 reciprocity reform?
Law No. 6302, in force from 18 May 2012, removed the old rule that a foreigner could buy property in Türkiye only if Turks could buy in the foreigner's country. Instead, the Council of Ministers named the countries whose citizens may buy (183 in 2012, 185 today), within limits of 10% of a district's private land and 30 hectares per person.
Why do these statistics start in 2013?
The reform took effect in May 2012, and TÜİK's housing sales series begins in January 2013, so 2013 is the first full year after the reform with official data.
The data
Why are the numbers higher than in older articles?
In February 2026 TÜİK revised its housing statistics back to 2013, counting properties used as homes even when the title deed classifies them differently. Every year rose by about 5–9%. This page uses the revised figures; older reports quote the originals.
How often is this page updated?
Every year, after TÜİK publishes its December bulletin in January, and during the year when a notable monthly release comes out.
