Any investment market should be judged not by emotions, but by the numbers.

And in Turkey’s case, the statistics are very telling.

Following the 2012 reform, foreign property purchases grew rapidly.

  • 2013 — around 12,000 properties sold to foreign buyers.
  • 2018 — nearly 40,000.
  • 2021 — more than 58,000.
  • 2022 — a historic record of 67,490 properties purchased by foreign investors.

After that, the market did begin to cool.

This was driven by a combination of high inflation, changes to the Turkish citizenship-by-investment program, rising property prices, and broader global economic conditions.

However, it is important to understand that a decline in transactions does not mean Turkey has turned away from foreign investors.

In 2023, foreigners purchased approximately 35,000 properties.

In 2024, they bought around 23,800.

Even after the slowdown, international buyers remain an important part of the Turkish real estate market.

But the Financial Figures Are Even More Revealing

According to official data from the Investment Office of the Republic of Türkiye, foreign investment in Turkish real estate reached approximately US$2.8 billion in 2024, accounting for roughly one-quarter of all foreign direct investment (FDI) entering the country that year.

Now consider the scale of that.

Billions of dollars every year.

And that figure represents only the purchase price of the properties themselves.

After buying a home, the owner typically also:

  • pays for renovations;
  • purchases furniture and household appliances;
  • hires architects, interior designers, and contractors;
  • pays property taxes and utility bills;
  • spends money in restaurants, shops, and local businesses;
  • welcomes family and friends, who also contribute to the local economy.

A single property purchase creates an entire chain of economic activity that supports construction, banking, services, furniture manufacturing, appliance retailers, tourism, and thousands of small businesses.

That is precisely why the idea of “taking property away from foreigners” makes little economic sense.

Turkey has spent decades building a system designed to attract international capital.

Investor confidence can be destroyed by a single misguided decision.

Restoring that trust may take decades—or, in some cases, may never be fully possible.

For this reason, governments generally choose a different approach.

They adjust the rules for future transactions.

They modify residence permit or citizenship programs.

They introduce new requirements or tax regulations.

But they have every reason to preserve the institution of private property, because it is one of the fundamental pillars of any healthy investment market.