Most buyers approach this as a shopping exercise: find something nice at around the threshold and proceed. The buyers who do well approach it as two filters applied in order — eligibility first, because a beautiful ineligible apartment is worthless for this purpose, then ownership, because you have to live with the choice for three years and exit it at the end.
Filter one: does it qualify?
The valuation, not the price
The USD 400,000 threshold is tested against an appraisal produced by a licensed valuation firm through the centralised system. Your contract price is not what is examined. A property agreed at USD 420,000 that appraises at USD 380,000 does not qualify, and restructuring after transfer is far harder than structuring correctly beforehand.
This is the single most common way a purchase that looked eligible turns out not to be. Commission the appraisal before you commit, not after.
It must be capable of transfer, cleanly
The seller must be the registered owner with authority to sell. There must be no undischarged mortgage, lien or injunction. Where any of these exist they can often be resolved, but resolution has to happen before transfer, not on a promise afterwards.
Residential, completed, and permitted
The property should be a completed residential unit with its occupancy permit issued. Off-plan units carry delivery risk that cannot be diligenced away and, for a citizenship file working to a timetable, that risk is borne at exactly the wrong moment.
The three-value test
Three figures need to sit sensibly together: the price you are paying, the appraised value, and the value declared at the Land Registry. Where a seller proposes declaring less than you are paying, the file is compromised — quite apart from being unlawful and creating a capital gains problem on resale.
Nationality and location restrictions
A small number of nationalities cannot acquire Turkish real estate at all. Property in military or special security zones requires clearance. Both are checked at the outset, before any money moves.
One structural option worth knowing. The threshold can be met across more than one title deed, provided each is separately appraised and each satisfies the conditions. Two units totalling the amount qualify as readily as one — and at the end of three years you can sell one and keep the other, rather than facing an all-or-nothing exit. For many investors this is the better structure and almost nobody proposes it.
Filter two: is it a property worth owning?
Everything above gets you a valid application. None of it tells you whether you have bought well. These are the criteria that decide that.
Who will rent it
Ask specifically: what kind of person takes this unit, and why this one rather than the fifty others near it? A defensible answer sounds like "professionals working on Büyükdere who want a five-minute commute". An indefensible one sounds like "Istanbul is growing".
Who will buy it in three years
The question almost nobody asks at purchase, and the only one that matters at the end. If the answer is "another foreign citizenship buyer", your exit depends on a programme continuing on the same terms for three more years. If the answer includes domestic buyers and owner-occupiers, your market is far deeper and far less correlated with your own reason for buying.
How many identical units surround it
In a tower of six hundred near-identical apartments, you are one seller among many, and the developer may still hold unsold stock priced below you. In a mixed street of varied buildings, your unit is more distinguishable. This single factor probably affects your exit price more than anything about the finish.
Building dues
Serviced buildings with pools, gyms and concierge carry substantial monthly charges. Establish the figure and who pays it before you buy. In our transactions the tenant pays the dues, which is what makes the gross figure the owner's actual return — but that is an outcome of how the lease is written, not a law of nature.
Urban transformation status
If the building sits under a risk determination or regeneration decision, everything about a three-year hold changes. This is a matter of public record and takes minutes to check.
Vacant or tenanted
A tenanted unit produces income from day one, but Turkish tenancy law protects tenants and you may not be able to deliver vacant possession to a future buyer quickly. A vacant unit gives flexibility and no income until let. Neither is better; the right answer depends on whether income or optionality matters more to you.
What we would not buy
- Anything sold primarily on a promised yield. If the pitch leads with a percentage rather than the building, the percentage is doing work the building cannot.
- Off-plan, for a citizenship file.
- A unit priced meaningfully above comparable stock because a guarantee is attached — see our note on rental guarantees.
- Anything where the appraisal has not been seen before commitment.
- Anything in a development where hundreds of identical units will compete with yours at exit.
The question to ask whoever is showing you property. "Who will buy this from me in three years, and what will they be comparing it against?" It is a harder question than it sounds, and the quality of the answer tells you almost everything about the quality of the advice.
See also where to buy in Istanbul, our full property guide, and the six qualifying routes. Or send us the property you are considering.
Next step
Tell us your nationality and what the account is for.
Those two answers decide which bank to approach and how the application should be presented. We will tell you what is realistic for your profile before you arrange anything at a consulate.
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