Throughout the years, Turkey has become one of the most promising real estate markets in Europe, and its location has proven to be perfect to make a real estate investment. Just imagine investing in a strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Without any doubt, Turkey offers great opportunities for real estate developers and investors by combining a large construction sector with growing commercial and industrial output.

The Turkish economy has more than tripled over the past 16 years and is promising more growth in the future. It has been driven by a robust domestic market and an entrepreneurial private sector which has spurred investments and exports. These factors, believe it or not, can determine if your choice to invest in Turkey's real estate sector will be worth it in the future, and it seems it will. 

Furthermore, we partnered with one of the most innovative real estate solutions worldwide. We are working with a cutting-edge 3-D real estate sales platform that connects developers and agents worldwide. This is an excellent solution for the Turkish real estate program. Why? Because Turkey allows you to invest in any property you see fit for its CBI program as long as it’s valued at $250,000 or more. With our partners, you will be able to review properties of all kinds and guarantee an excellent investment return that ends up paying for your passport.

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Property investment in Turkey: an overview

According to the official government website, in Turkey, the real estate sector is accounted for approximately 8.4 percent of GDP in the last decade. On the investment side, FDI inflows stood at US$ 13 billion, with real estate and construction garnering US$ 5.9 billion (45%) of the total FDI in 2018. 

Other data provided by the government suggest that urban renewal and mega projects dominate the agenda for the foreseeable future, particularly in Istanbul. Just to get you an idea of the growth of the Turkish real estate market, you should know that the Urban Renewal and Development initiative will encompass 7.5 million housing units. The initiative has a budget of USD 400 billion, with a large contribution coming from the private sector.

To summarize, the development of the real estate sector concept has been based on several factors, including:

• Strong and sophisticated infrastructure in Turkey.

• Appropriate legislation, investment, and banking.

• Continuous government support for foreign investors.

• Turkey's high population (over 82 million).

• Urban renewal projects are on the agenda to be carried out in a near future by the government and municipalities.

As you can see, it is surely a growing sector that can be your best next opportunity. Also, the location of Turkey is worth considering. For example, real estate sales to foreigners began to increase following the abolishment of the reciprocity law in 2012. This allowed for the removal of restrictions on foreigners' real estate purchases. In 2018, 39,663 homes were sold to foreigners in Turkey, marking a year-on-year increase of 78.3%. 

Annual gross leasable area growth in the office market has been around 42 percent on average between 2010 and 2019. There are more than 1.7 million square meters of office supplies under construction. It is expected that the total grade A office supply will reach almost 7.4 million square meters of the gross leasable area by the end of 2023. This indicates a potential for further retail growth in Turkey. You could be the next one to take advantage of this opportunity.

If you would like more details about the general profile of the investment potential in Turkey, you can read our Country Focus.

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How to acquire property and a passport?

We understand that the process to acquire property anywhere in the world can seem complex and long. However, in Turkey, we can summarize the pathway to do so in the following steps:

1.Identify the property you want to purchase according to the budget and desired criteria and contact the seller. For this, we can recommend you use the services of our partners (which we will detail later).

2.Check the property’s registry details together with the seller or the seller’s representative at the Directorate of Land Registry.

3.An appraisal report that shows the property’s actual value should be issued by a company authorized for property appraisal. 

4.Apply to the Land Registry Directorate with the required documents to start the sale procedure of the property.

5.The Directorate of Land Registry must check the document, and any incomplete items must be completed. The parties must be informed about the fees they are to be paid for the transaction.

6.Deposit the fees. You can use a secure escrow system where the contract value is deposited to the recipient’s account, and it must be transferred to the seller’s account after the contract is signed.

7.Sign the official sales contract issued by the Directorate of Land Registry under the presence of a public officer, and the sales transaction will be completed when the contract is signed.

After this, the process will be completed and you will have a property in Turkey. Now, we would like to show you how you can obtain a new passport and citizenship with the investment you just hypothetically made.

Turkey CBI program

Turkey has a special citizenship program for foreign investors: Directly Gained Citizenship by Making Investment. By the decree issued in the Official Gazette of September 19, 2018, the foreigners who acquire real estate in Turkey with a value of at least 250,000 USD will be directly entitled to become Turkish citizens. The condition is that the property cannot be sold for at least three (3) years, although it can be rented. Moreover, you can choose to acquire many properties as long as the total value reaches $250,000. 

If the receipt is paid in Turkish Lira, the Central Bank of Turkey’s selling exchange rate on the date of payment should be used to estimate the USD equivalent of the amount.

1.The first step is to obtain a certificate of eligibility criteria. To obtain it, you will need to apply to the Department of the Brokerage Activities of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey. 

2.Then, you will need to get a residence permit. To obtain it, it is necessary to apply to the Provincial Directorate of Immigration Administration of the settlement. For this, you will need to obtain the documents required for the citizenship application. Also, the criteria required for the residence permit are set out in Article 31 of Law 6458, 2013 on Foreigners and International Protection (as amended on 29 Oct 2016). Also, the guidelines for a family residence permit are set out in Article 34 of the same law.

3.Finally, you will prepare the citizenship application. For this, you will need to apply to the Provincial Directorate of Census and Citizenship of the settlement. 

The Provincial Census and Citizenship Directorate issues the citizenship file and sends it to NVIGM. An investigation is conducted to find out whether there are any impediments concerning national security and public order. Then, the application will be submitted to the Office of the Minister to be sent to the President’s Office if the investigation throws positive results. Finally, it is sent to the President´s Office. Turkish citizenship will be granted if the President rules in favor of the acquisition of Turkish citizenship. Nevertheless, there are some limitations that you need to consider under this program:

• A natural person of foreign origin may acquire real estate and limited rights in rem anywhere in Turkey of up to 30 hectares.

• Natural persons of foreign origin should not acquire and lease real estate within prohibited military zones or military security zones (Law No. 2565).

• Total acquisition by natural persons of foreign origin must not exceed ten percent of the total district area where private property is allowed.

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Which documents are required for property acquisition in Turkey?

There is a list of documents you will need depending on the type of investment that you want to make. However, the following documents are the ones you will need for sure:

A.The property’s title deed or details of village/quarter, section, parcel, building, independent unit.

B.Identity card or passport (together with the translated copy thereof where required). Submission of the same is compulsory to identify the nationality of the foreigner.

C.Property appraisal report issued by any of the organizations authorized by the Board of Capital Markets (SPK) for property assessment.

D.''Real Estate Market Value Document” of the property from the corresponding Municipality.

E.Compulsory earthquake insurance policy for buildings (residences, workplaces... etc.).

F.One photograph of the seller and two photographs of the buyer (taken within the last 6 months, at a size of 6x4).

G.Certified interpreter if there is a party who fails to speak Turkish.

H.If an action is to be carried out with a power of attorney issued abroad, the translation and the original or approved copy of the power of attorney must be submitted.

Nevertheless, you can count on our partners and team of experts in Turkey to guide you through all the processes and ensure that you have everything you need at all times. Do not hesitate to contact us and allow us to make this next important step of your life an easier one.

In what kind of projects can I invest in the Turkish real estate sector?

The first thing you need to consider when making your real estate investment is the location inside Turkey. For instance, Istanbul topped the best-selling Turkish states list in 2018 with 235,000 apartments, accounting for 17% of total real estate sales. Ankara came second with 131,161 apartments, 9.5% of total sales across Turkey. The state of Izmir ranked third in the list of best-selling residential apartments, with 75.672 apartments, and by 5.5 %. 

According to the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB), the highest rise in sales prices inside Istanbul has happened in the region of Bakırköy – D-100 Highway (70%) between 2014 and 2019.

We say that location matters since the real estate tax is estimated by calculating the value of the property and determining the ratio of the property tax that applies in that particular area. These percentages vary between bigger and smaller cities in Turkey, reaching 2 per thousand in major cities and 1 per thousand in normal cities.

4 per thousand shops in major cities, and 2 per thousand shops in normal cities. If the owner of the property is a company, this tax is imposed on the net profits of companies that are obtained from real estate transactions and rental income with a ratio of 20%. This includes capital gains.

Having said that, we present some options to invest in our housing projects with the Turkish government’s guarantee. These are projects that are based on a partnership between construction companies affiliated with the Turkish government and private companies. Here the construction company provides state-owned land and the private company acts as the executing agency with the supervision of the company that has affiliations with the government.

But the opportunities are not limited to this. You can also invest in apartments and buildings under construction solely managed by private construction companies. 

If you want to get a hold of the best options in Turkey you can contact us and our partners.

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Who are our partners and why do they have a revolutionary tool?

We understand that investing in the real estate sector in another country can be sometimes overwhelming since most of the time you need to travel, ask for documents, search in different sites and with different realtors. However, let us introduce you to a tool that can make your next real estate investment in Turkey a lot easier.

Our partners provide a revolutionary 3D sales platform for real estate selling integrating developers and agents globally. Likewise, they have a B2B platform connecting the best developers with the best agents to achieve premier results for the real estate sales ecosystem. They make tie-ups with developers exclusively from different countries and create 3D content with bespoke visualization to list Turkey’s properties.

In short terms, they connect agents on their platform with the listed properties of your interest and give you access to properties on sale. We consider this to be a revolutionary approach since it is not just any other real estate listing portal. It shows a complete sales cycle for real estate and includes interactive 3D content for the listed properties with features like live pricing and live availability. Thanks to this, you can see the available apartments, views from the apartment, location, major landmarks, etc. to better understand the project.

Our partners connect the best real estate developers with the best agents and thus they hand-pick their agents to enroll in their system. It's an invite-only program.

Their Turkish office services

Now, after understanding how revolutionary can be the technology behind our partner's work, let’s see what kind of services they offer in Turkey. First, they have video-tutorials for you, so you can understand all the features. Also, the platform allows you to make better decisions when choosing your next real estate investment in Turkey since they offer:

• Online reservation of properties through the platform.

• Remote selling features including sales support and 3D visualization for the agents.

• Cross-platform application.

• Take floor plans to the next level.

• Powerfully convey more and better information through remarkable experiences.

• Engage customers and let them fully explore your project.

What can we do for you?

Turkey is for sure one of our top recommendations for real estate investment since this market has proven its durability. According to official statistics from the Turkish Survey and Tapu Institute, in May 2020 the percentage of real estate sales was only 44% less compared to 2019. This means that it endured the COVID-19 crisis in a good way. Being that so, here at Mundo, we are willing to help you obtain the best real estate investment option, one that fits your plans and needs. 

We can also help you to obtain your citizenship with our experts. They have wide experience helping HNWI to receive citizenship by investment and to have a local office in Turkey. Contact us right now and we will give you all the information you need.

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