Turkey suspends property transactions

Permalink: Turkey suspends property transactions
by Gill Montia

Turkey has been reviewing its property laws with regard to foreign investors and has temporarily suspended the issuing of title deeds to foreign buyers, as from 16th April.

The move is aimed at allowing the Turkish Constitutional Court to re-draft legislation and amend two controversial clauses that cover the sale of property to foreigners.

In rural areas of Turkey, foreign-owned companies have been buying up large areas of agricultural land and the amendments will outlaw this practice, which is already denied to foreign nationals.

Matters should be completed in mid-July and in the meantime, any private foreign investors with a Turkish property in mind will have to delay their transaction.

British investors generally buy property in the officially zoned areas around the country’s cities, towns and resorts, and will therefore be unaffected by the changes.

However, once the law is amended, foreign companies will be prevented from buying land in rural areas or owning over 0.5% of the land in any one province.

The changes are not expected to adversely affect Turkey’s property market overall.

The country is still keen to attract foreign property investors and both rental yields and property prices are expected to continue to rise.