New Reciprocity Law in Turkey!
Finally the long awaited reciprocity law arrives to remove restrictions on Title Deed (Tapu) acquisitions by Middle East, GCC, Azarbaijan, Iran and other formerly restricted nationals. These countries and several other countries are now able to purchase property in Turkey by the approval of the reciprocity law by Turkish President. The new law, which allows non-reciprocal country citizens to acquire freehold title deeds to their names, will soon be published in the official gazette. Not only new reciprocity law but also the size of land that can be purchased by Foreign Nationals in Turkey has been increased by 10 times to 30 hectares.
The current law only allowed nationals such as EU countries, Canada and USA where the reciprocity agreement in place. However, nationals of countries without reciprocity with Turkey could not register title deeds (TAPU) in Turkey. Property acquisitions by nationals of countries without reciprocity had to be via Turkish registered limited companies, which was a costly exercise with some potential tax implications that deterred many would be buyers.
With the new reciprocity law, Turkish property market will receive yet another boost. The timing of this law could not have been any better for the Turkish economy. It is expected that foreign direct investment in Turkey will now reach record levels with a large number of Middle East, GCC and Ex-Soviet investors eying up the lucrative Turkish real estate market, which has been steadily delivering strong capital growth year after year. Coupled with the strength of Turkish economy and healthy projections for the next 5-10 years, it is inevitable that the new law will cause yet another flood of foreign funds in to Turkey. Interest from Middle East and GCC countries are at an all time high. With trouble still looming in most of the Middle East and slow economic recovery of the Euro zone and US, a healthy Turkish market is prime source of investment now.
