Foreign nationals can own property in Türkiye, and most transactions complete without difficulty. But the right is not unlimited, and the limits are enforced at the land registry counter rather than argued about afterwards. A buyer who discovers a restriction at the transfer appointment has already paid a deposit. This article sets out the four constraints that actually block transactions and how to check each of them before committing.
Where the limits come from
Article 35 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644 governs acquisition by foreign natural persons. As rewritten by Law No. 6302 in 2012, it allows acquisition subject to statutory limits and to determinations made by the President as to which countries' nationals may acquire.
Two numerical ceilings sit in the article itself. Two further restrictions — security zones and reciprocity — operate alongside them.
Limit one: thirty hectares per person
A foreign natural person may hold, across the whole of Türkiye, immovable property and independent and permanent limited real rights totalling no more than thirty hectares.
Three features matter. It is personal — it attaches to the individual, not to each transaction. It is national — holdings in different provinces aggregate. And it covers rights as well as ownership, so long-term usufruct and construction rights count toward the total.
Thirty hectares is three hundred thousand square metres. For apartment buyers it is irrelevant; a hundred flats would not approach it. For buyers of agricultural land, development sites or rural estates it is a genuine ceiling, and it is the reason large rural acquisitions by foreign individuals are usually structured through a company instead.
Limit two: ten per cent of the district
The total area of immovable property held by foreign nationals in any district may not exceed ten per cent of the privately owned surface area of that district.
This is not a limit on you. It is a limit on foreign ownership in aggregate, and it operates on a first-come basis: once a district reaches the ceiling, further acquisitions by foreign nationals are refused there, regardless of the individual buyer's circumstances.
In most of the country this is theoretical. In a small number of districts with concentrated foreign ownership — parts of the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts especially — it is live, and transactions are refused. Where you are buying in a district popular with foreign buyers, an enquiry at the land registry directorate before paying a deposit is a sensible precaution rather than an excess of caution.
Limit three: military and security zones
Acquisition is prohibited in military forbidden zones and military security zones. In special security zones it requires permission from the relevant authority, which may be refused.
These boundaries are the least visible of the four constraints. They do not follow district lines, they are not marked on property listings, and a plot in an apparently ordinary residential area can fall inside one. The land registry checks the position during the transfer process; a buyer relying on the seller's assurance has no protection.
Where a property is close to a base, a coastal installation or a border region, the check belongs at the beginning of the transaction.
Limit four: nationality
Whether a foreign national may acquire property at all is determined by the President, and the list of countries whose nationals may acquire is not published as a public register accessible to buyers.
In practice most nationalities can buy, and a small number cannot. Restrictions may also apply to particular property types or locations rather than being absolute. The only reliable way to establish the position for a given nationality is an enquiry through the land registry system before the transaction.
A related point that causes confusion: nationality restrictions apply to the buyer's citizenship, not to their residence. A national of a restricted country living in Europe is assessed on their citizenship.
What the limits do not restrict
It is worth being clear about what a foreign owner may do, because the restrictions above are sometimes described more broadly than they are.
- Number of properties. There is no cap on how many properties a foreign national may own, only on total area.
- Use. Property may be lived in, rented out, left empty, renovated or sold.
- Inheritance. Property passes to heirs. Turkish law applies to immovable property in Türkiye, and non-Turkish heirs are subject to the same Article 35 limits.
- Sale. A foreign owner may sell to a Turkish citizen or to another foreign national, subject to the buyer's own position under Article 35.
- Mortgage. Turkish banks lend to foreign buyers, subject to their own criteria.
The company alternative
A Turkish company with foreign shareholders is a Turkish legal person. Its acquisitions are governed by Article 36 of Law No. 2644 rather than by the thirty-hectare individual cap, and must fall within the company's stated field of activity, subject to a governorate assessment.
This is a genuine solution for large or commercial acquisitions and a poor one for a holiday home: it brings accounting obligations, corporate tax filings, and the cost of maintaining a company. The structure should follow the commercial purpose rather than being adopted to circumvent a limit — arrangements whose only function is avoidance attract scrutiny.
Checks before you pay a deposit
- Nationality position confirmed through the land registry system.
- District ceiling: has foreign ownership reached ten per cent?
- Military, security or special security zone status of the specific parcel.
- Your own aggregate holdings against the thirty-hectare cap.
- Title register: ownership, shares, mortgages, attachments, annotations.
- Zoning and designation — particularly for land, where agricultural or forest designation changes everything.
- If the property is undeveloped land, the two-year obligation to submit a development project.
Every one of these is a pre-contract enquiry. None of them is available as a remedy after the deposit has been paid to a seller who has stopped answering.
A short scenario
A buyer agrees to purchase a plot near a small coastal town, pays a deposit of ten per cent, and books the transfer for three weeks later. At the registry the transaction is refused: the parcel sits inside a military security zone.
The contract says nothing about who bears the risk of a legal impossibility. Recovering the deposit becomes a negotiation, and then, when the seller declines, litigation — for a sum smaller than the cost of pursuing it.
The enquiry that would have prevented this takes a few days and can be made before any money changes hands. That is the entire lesson: these limits are not obstacles if they are checked first, and they are expensive if they are not.
Frequently asked questions
Does the thirty hectares include property I inherited? Yes — the cap aggregates all holdings, however acquired.
Can my spouse and I hold thirty hectares each? The limit is individual, so in principle yes. Structuring purchases specifically to defeat a statutory limit is a different matter.
How do I find out if a district has reached ten per cent? By enquiry at the relevant land registry directorate.
Are the restrictions different if I have a residence permit? No. Article 35 turns on nationality, not on residence status.
What changes once I become a Turkish citizen? The Article 35 limits cease to apply to you — you acquire as a Turkish citizen. Property already held is unaffected.
Can foreigners buy on the coast? Yes, subject to the district ceiling and to security zone restrictions in specific locations.
Do these limits apply to citizenship applications? They apply to the acquisition. A purchase that Article 35 prohibits cannot support a citizenship file, because it cannot complete at all.
Before you commit
Foreign ownership in Türkiye is broadly permitted and narrowly limited. The narrow parts are checkable in advance, and each of them is capable of stopping a transaction entirely rather than merely complicating it.
Dural Hukuk carries out nationality, district ceiling, security zone and title checks before any deposit is paid, and represents foreign buyers through the transfer and any subsequent citizenship application. Call +90 535 260 74 54 or use the contact form on this site.
This article is general information on Turkish law as at August 2026 and is not legal advice. Restrictions turn on the specific parcel and nationality; obtain advice before committing funds.