What were the tricks, tactics and transactional practices that previously made investing so difficult?
These regulatory changes will have the greatest impact since the 2017 price peak, the 2007 introduction of mortgages, and the 2003 approval for foreign investors.
New Regulations Minimize Profiteering & Risks
Transparent Secure Payment ProceduresValuations & Property Sale Price DataPermit-Less Properties Banned
What are the three safe-guards introduced to eliminate over-priced property profiteering with inflated property prices?
The new regulations now require that three prices must all be the same, and the Land Registry will not process the payment unless they are. The enforcement of the new regulation by the Land Registry will be made possible by the new completely safe and secure escrow payment process announced December 2025 and coming into effect July 1 2026. This system and bank is tried and trusted and in use for sett4lement payments on Turkish government bonds and the Istanbul Stock Exchange since the early 1990’s. (Beware profiteering agents making up contrived reasons to urge buyers to complete their purchases before the new system comes into effect!)
New Regulations in recent years have successfully squeezed out much risk and many fraudsters from the property purchase procedures.
A.New transparent and secure payment procedures mandatory, the scope for fraudsters profiteering from hidden price mark-ups is mostly eliminated (no doubt new tricks are to come, like demanding previously un-disclosed fees on closing, but these are more easily managed)
B.Impending release of property transaction data for the first time ever, the valuation reports should begin to have greater accuracy; one outcome of this is that property prices will be revealed as 2%0-30% than imaginary inflated numbers that have been perpetuated by agents and hopeful sellers alike.
C. Properties without permits have been banned from processing to international buyers at the land registry… This one item alone was responsible for problems encountered by 90% of foreign buyers in Turkey from 2007 to 2017.
Beginning July 1 2026 in Turkiye for property transactions, what are the three prices that must all be the same ?
1.The price shown on the purchase sale contract or agreement (however simple it may be);
2.The price declared at the Land Registry (Declared Value), used to calculate capital gains tax, and property transfer tax..
3.The price that is shown in the money payment transfer through the new escrow payment & settlement system.
How will these changes impact property prices in Turkiye?
These changes for payment procedures, recording and releasing factual transaction price data, will have a huge impact on property prices in Turkiye, and an impressive example of how astute regulatory policy changes may have a positive benefit for consumers. .
In locations where foreign buying is widespread and prevalent, will be most immediately impacted and this will become evident to the market in general likely in the final quarter of 2026 or first quarter of 2027. This impact will be most obvious in many of the coastal towns where 80%+ of the improved property at the upper end of the market is owned by foreigners and dominated by their transactions guided by English speaking profiteering agents. (For example, Parts of Alanya, Antalya, Kemer, Kas, Kalkan, Hisaronu, Dalyan, Bodrum, Didim, Kusadasi, etc). The over inflated sales prices offered by agents generally average 20%-30% above factual transaction prices. The new appraisal valuation reports will show the actual factual prices, and the over-inflated prices will become obviously far more difficult to justify. To a lesser extent this same effect will occur in desirable central Istanbul neighborhoods (many of which have already been banned for foreign purchases for Turkish citizenship, so less so) and the satellite locations around Istanbul where developers sell new build properties at inflated central Istanbul prices instead of more appropriately discounted to reflect their less desirable locations. For the specific locations of all of he above, MyTapu associates are happy to provide information… email info@MyTapu .com or complete the form here https://www.mytapu.com.
In locations where the local market is dominated by Turkish buyers and sellers, a similar impact will be noticeable, but to a lesser degree, especially for high urban density areas like Bakirkoy, for example, in Istanbul.
In the medium term, the changes will result in faster transaction times, lower expenses, and increased volume, which are all very positive news for the Turkish property market in general,
How will these changes reduce profiteering and improve investment performance?
Fraudsters’ previous practices will now become nearly impossible, resulting in cost savings for investors that directly result in real investment returns. Previously foreign buyers did not find out they had been scammed until the time came to sell their properties, often 3+ years later. When they found out, the word spread, resulting effectively in a foreign buyers’ strike, which is why property purchases by foreigners have declined so dramatically since 2025 – three years after the Citizenship investment threshold minimum was 3raised and curtailed the last wave of foreign buying in 2022.
Why Will these changes make investing in Turkish residential real estate 20-30% more profitable?
Obviously, when the profiteering agents are unable to put 20%-30% into their pockets, that money will be reaped now by the buyers that were previously being scammed.
Due Diligence is the Only Real Safe-Guard…
Obviously the best way to prevent problems is to complete the due diligence in advance, and the best way to find out how, is here…..
What new practices are agents and their profiteering partners colluding on?
One such practice agents have begun using is to demand a previously undisclosed commission or fee from the buyer immediately before the final closing transaction set up. Naturally we expect other practices to evolve. In fraud prevention work, one principle always applies- if a fraudster is intent on committing a fraud, no amount of regulation will 100% prevent it.
How were English speaking agents profiteering from false price manipulation?
On a purchase transaction, there were practices used to ensure the ‘;middlemen’ profited from huge artificial price mark-ups amounting to a standard 20%-30% profit. This is possible because un-informed foreign buyers, typically those that were intent on avoiding paying fees to professional advisors and lawyers, believed there was just one price involved in a transaction, the purchase /sales prices. However, in Turkiye, property purchase and sale transactions include three prices, all different:
The price received by the agent from the buyer. The price paid by the agent to the seller. The price declared at the land registry, which typically vastly understated the true transaction prices for the purpose of reducing the capital gains tax of the Turkish seller, and reducing the transfer 4% transaction tax payable by buyers and sellers.
The price difference between that received from the buyer, and that paid to the seller, resulted in a huge profit from the inflated price mark-up by and for the agent.
The buyer and seller often did not realize there were different prices negotiated, because the agent monoplised the negotiation communications and channels. Solution: Never use an agent- Turks don’t why should you?
Collusion
The real estate agents with English and Arabic language websites were the main culprits. They used the profiteering practices to entice and pay other professionals to join in the practice and share the hidden profits. In this way it became impossible, practically speaking, to buy a property in Turkiye without paying an artificial price mark-up of 20%-30%. Every middleman was offered the profit sharing, and it became understood as the common, standard practice.
Why is the practice so widespread?g
The large profit margins were sufficient to attract all middlemen and all ancillary service profiteers.
Who are the middlemen sharing profits?
The practice began with UK and Irish estate agents, and through them the practice grew to include Turkish agents, and citizenship and immigration consultants, lawyers, bankers, specialist service providers, for example the journalists producing specialist media such as citizenship and immigration newsletters, international property sales websites, appraisal valuation experts, translators & interpreters, etc
When did this begin?
The practice began with UK and Irish estate agents ,’;mis-selling’ and duping investors from their home countries into over-priced properties in Turkiye. This began in the period 2003-2010 when new laws allowed residential property purchases in Turkiye, followed by new laws permitting mortgages, for international buyers. at that time there were instances where false promises and mis-leading tactics captured 300-400 buyers for specific property developments on the western coast in Turkiye, and the practice spread to Istanbul. In the UK and Ireland there were successful fraud prosecutions against the agents, so they left their home countries and moved business to Istanbul and Turkiye, where they continue to operate to this day, posing as ‘honest brokers’ and doing what they do best... lying is their standard business practice..
Why isn’t this a fraud in Turkiye?
In other countries such practices would be considered fraud, but in Turkiye the legal definition of fraud does not encompass this practice, because it is not applied to a large group of buyers simultaneously en-masse all at the same time, but instead is applied one-by-one, to hundreds of investors- all investors.
