Foreigners in Turkey get citizenship buying house shares

Rising house prices led to shared house purchases once again, a process mostly seen in housing in the 1980s, Turkish newspaper Dunya reported.

Experts say foreigners now revitalized this model in house purchases to obtain Turkish citizenship. A new law, which allows the conversion of hotels and aparthotels into residences, is expected to further increase sales through the share model. 

Hamit Demir, Chairman of Demir Construction Company that the model has been in use for a long time. 

“Shared housing and land purchase is a system that has been used for 40 years, especially in the houses where license and construction servitude could not be established. In the 80's, most of the houses were sold with shares,” Demir said. 

According to Demir, 2-3 foreigners come together to buy a house worth 1-2 million dollars to be able to get Turkish citizenship.

The allure of citizenship and easy regulations have made Turkish properties more appealing for foreigners than ever before. Between 2017 and 2019, home purchases by foreigners more than doubled to almost 46,000 units, with Iranians and Iraqis as the most frequent buyers. 

Last December, sales to foreigners jumped nearly 50 percent as Russians and Ukrainians started to flee the ongoing war. In May this year, the government increased the citizenship threshold from $250.000 to $400,000.

“Foreigners are generally more willing to buy house shares, since they do not get a second thought about the issues of construction servitude and abode,” Demir said.