Free tool · Price check

Is the Istanbul price you were quoted a fair one?

Foreign buyers in Istanbul are routinely quoted more than the same apartment transacts at between Turkish parties, and there is no public transaction register to check against. On new developments the gap is structural: the developer pays the introducing agent a commission of around 10% of the sale price, and that sits inside the price you are quoted rather than on an invoice.

This is the main reason we do not recommend off-plan or new-build stock for citizenship purchases. A completed resale apartment is priced against other resale apartments in the same building, and that price can be tested. An exit is into a market of individual buyers rather than a queue behind the developer’s unsold inventory.

There is a second reason to care about price on this route specifically. The USD 400,000 threshold is measured by the official valuation report, not by what you paid. Overpaying does not help you clear it, and buying too close to the threshold risks a valuation that comes in short and stops the file.

Enter the details of a property you are considering and the tool positions the asking price against what we see in the market.

Reviewed by Av. Arda Şardağ, Istanbul Bar Association no. 70004 · last updated 8 September 2026

Price check

Is the price you have been quoted a fair one?

Foreign buyers are routinely quoted more than the same unit transacts at between Turkish parties, and there is no public register to check against. Enter the details of a property you are considering. For buildings we transact in, we position the price against our own deals. For anything else, the tool researches current listings and tells you what it found — and what that does and does not prove.

Want this checked properly?

The tool positions an asking price against other asking prices. It does not read the title deed, verify the seller, check the occupancy permit, or tell you whether the building sits under a regeneration decision — and those are the things that decide whether a purchase is safe rather than merely priced. Send us the property and we will look at the file itself.

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Common questions

Questions we are asked about this

Are foreigners overcharged for property in Istanbul?

Frequently, yes. There is no public transaction register in Türkiye, and on new developments an agent commission of around 10% is built into the quoted price. Resale units in completed buildings can be compared against other transactions and are easier to price.

Does the price I pay determine citizenship eligibility?

No. Eligibility is established by an official valuation report, not by the contract price. A property bought at USD 410,000 can be valued at USD 390,000, which stops the application.

Should I buy off-plan for Turkish citizenship?

We advise against it. There is no title deed until delivery, which means no transfer, no certificate of conformity and no start to the three-year period, and pricing for foreign buyers is routinely above the resale market.

Which Istanbul districts do you recommend?

Central and near-central districts with genuine tenant demand and an active resale market — among them Şişli, Bomonti, Nişantaşı, Beşiktaş and Ataşehir.

General information about Turkish law, not advice on your own circumstances. Thresholds and processing times change; the review date above is when this page was last checked.

Contact

Start with a conversation.

Tell us the outcome you are after and the budget you have in mind. If a Turkish route is not the right answer for you, we will say so — that is a cheaper conversation for both of us than the alternative.

SARDAG Law & Consultancy
Nurol Tower, Office 2109
Şişli, Istanbul, Türkiye

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+90 545 830 93 22
arda.sardag@icloud.com

We answer in English and Turkish. If you write outside Istanbul working hours, you will still get a reply the same day in most cases.

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