Turkey has introduced a new law designed to encourage international property investment.
Published by the Turkish Government on 12th January, this new law will enable foreign buyers to become Turkish citizens three years after investing $1 million or more. This incentive is comparable to the Golden Visa schemes that are offered by certain European countries to non-EU citizens who want to claim residency.
“After the slow-down in foreign sales in the second half of last year, caused mainly by the political coup and security concerns, this is a welcome positive move that should help attract buyers back,” said Julian Walker, director of Spot Blue, a UK-based Turkish online estate agency. “The threshold of $1 million will suit wealthy Arab investors in particular. Last year, Iraqis, Saudis, Kuwaitis and Russians bought the highest number of properties in Turkey. With this new law, we envisage this trend continuing, with interest from Syrians also growing.”
The Turkish government is anticipating that the introduction of this law will encourage a whopping $1billion in revenue from property transactions this year alone, with Istanbul seeing the majority of the action.
“As a further sign of confidence, Turkey features on A Place in the Sun’s ‘Best Places to Buy in 2017’ list. They highlight Fethiye, Kalkan and Bodrum as particular hot spots with buyers.”
Another benefit for foreign buyers is the fall of the Turkish lira, which has become even cheaper since the beginning of the year. The lira has fallen over 10% against the US dollar since the start of 2017, a drop which follows a year-on-year decrease of 17% during 2016.
