Changes to a regulation on the requirements for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship by means of investment will require foreigners to pay at least $600,000 for a piece of real estate, instead of $400,000, in 2024, the T24 news website reported on Wednesday.
The $200,000 increase in the minimum investment necessary to obtain Turkish citizenship was announced in a recent regulation promulgated by the Interior Ministry’s Directorate of Migration Management, T24 said, adding that it will go into effective in the new year.
In 2018 Turkey lowered the investment criteria for foreigners to become Turkish citizens in a bid to boost investment in the economy. The regulations stipulated that foreigners can become citizens if they own property worth $250,000 for three years, down from a previous value of $1 million. The minimum investment necessary to obtain Turkish citizenship was increased to $400,000 in 2022.
Foreigners who purchase real estate for $400,000 will continue to be granted the right to apply for Turkish citizenship until the end of the year.
While housing and rental prices have continued to rise in Turkey since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of housing sales has witnessed a decline.
Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed that foreign property sales in Turkey experienced an annual decline of 53 percent in October, reaching the lowest level in the past three years.
According to the statistics, the decrease in property sales to foreigners, initially 0.6 percent in January, was 27 percent following earthquakes in February and 42 percent by mid-year.
The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes that hit Turkey on Feb. 6 killed more than 50,000 people and left millions homeless in 11 provinces in the country’s south and southeast.