How Much Does it REALLY Cost to Buy Property in Turkey?
Are you wondering what the total cost to buy property in Turkey really is? I bought eight properties myself in this beautiful country. So I know the known and hidden costs of buying real estate in Turkey. In this article, I’ll show you exactly how much you should budget on top of the sale price.
All information in this article and more is also included in my YouTube video:
Overview Total Costs to Buy Property in Turkey
Before listing the additional costs, keep negotiation of the sale price in mind. A 5% discount is realistic, while 10% is much harder to get. This article is structured into five sections:
- Real estate transfer tax
- Real estate agent’s commission
- Transferring funds to a bank account in Türkiye
- Official appraisal of property
- Some other costs
1) Real estate transfer tax
Let’s now start with the biggest cost item when buying property in Turkey. That is the real estate transfer tax. Officially, both the seller and buyer need to pay 2% of the selling price. But in practice, the buyer often pays the complete 4%. This is an important argument when negotiating the sale price.
2) Real estate agent’s commission
Next is the real estate agent’s commission. The total commission is a maximum of 4,8% for both parties together. In practice, it is split equally and thus up to 2.4% for each party. These figures also include 20% value added tax.
This cost only applies if an agent is involved. Let me explain this in a bit more detail. Let’s assume the property seller has a representing agent. The seller pays his agent typically 2.4%. Then, the buyer also has to pay 2.4% to the same agent.
Let’s assume a different scenario. The seller again has the same agent. But this time the buyer also has his own buyer’s agent. In this case, the seller and buyer each pay 2.4% to their respective agents.
In summary, the buyer typically pays 2.4% if there is an agent involved.
I also want to highlight one important point here. If you are buying property in Turkey from a project and they tell you there is no agent’s commission, then the commission is already integrated into the sale price. And these costs are often a few multiples of the 2.4% I mentioned here.
3) Transferring funds to a bank account in Türkiye
The next item is the cost of transferring your funds to a bank account in Türkiye. The cheapest option I know costs around 0.15% and it can go up to 1% of the transferred amount.
4) Official appraisal of property
Number four is the cost of the official property appraisal. For foreign buyers, a property appraisal is required. For a standard property purchase, it costs around 300 US dollars. But if you want to use the property to get Turkish Citizenship by Investment, the appraisal costs around 1,000 US dollars.
5) Some other costs
Next to the four cost items above, there are some other costs, such as an official translator, circulating charges to the land registry or earthquake insurance. But these are relatively negligible.
How to find your dream property in Turkey
If you want to learn how to find your dream property in Turkey, and which cities I recommend for foreigners, watch this full guide here.
You can explore other articles about Istanbul by clicking on one of the following categories: