Turkey

Turkey is the closest thing on this page to simply buying: the reciprocity requirement was abolished in 2012, and a national of almost any country registers the tapu — the title — in their own name, with no local company and no partner. That is why the market is so densely populated with buyers from the former USSR, and unfortunately why its advertising is so densely populated with simplifications.

Restrictions exist, but they are geographic rather than national. Purchase by a foreigner is barred inside military and special security zones, and the check happens at registration — which means the refusal arrives after the deposit. There are ceilings too: no more than thirty hectares per person nationwide, and no more than a tenth of a district by area in foreign hands in aggregate. For an apartment this rarely matters; for land it always does.

Status is sold separately from housing, and the thresholds have moved. Citizenship by investment rose from USD 250,000 to USD 400,000 in June 2022, with a three-year holding obligation. A residence permit tied to ownership has, since late 2023, required a property worth at least USD 200,000. Two different documents with two different thresholds — routinely conflated in listings.

A separate matter is the neighbourhoods closed to foreign registration. The ministry updates the list by decree, and in a closed neighbourhood the flat remains yours while registering your address there, and obtaining residence on it, does not. What has to be checked is the address, not the city: one mahalle can be closed while the one next to it is fully open.

Since the 2023 earthquakes the decisive document is not the brochure but the iskan — the occupancy permit — together with the year of construction relative to the code then in force. A building without an iskan is cheaper for a reason. DASK earthquake cover is compulsory, and it is also an indirect read on how the property has been rated for risk.

The caveat: The right to reside does not come with the flat: the list of neighbourhoods closed to foreign registration changes by ministerial decree, not by statute.