Turkey cuts investment levels for citizenship, property sales seen boosted

ISTANBUL: Turkey has slashed the financial and investment criteria for foreigners to become Turkish citizens, in a move expected to double annual property investment by foreigners to around $10 billion, according to sector officials.

The government has been taking measures to boost investment in the economy and shore up the lira, which has fallen 40 percent this year due to jitters about President Tayyip Erdogan´s sway over monetary policy and a row with the United States that has triggered reciprocal sanctions and trade curbs.

According to new regulations, foreigners can become citizens if they own property worth $250,000 for three years, down from a previous value set at $1 million, or if they hold $500,000 of Turkish debt for three years, down from a previous $3 million.

The reduction of the minimum limit to invest for citizenship is expected to double property sales and bring in cash which would otherwise be invested in Greece or other European Union countries, sector officials said. Foreigners purchased $4.6 billion worth of properties last year, with a large proportion of them from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia, according to official data. “Annual sales of $10 billion is not an unrealistic amount; it can be achieved with the new regulation change,” Real Estate Investment Association (GYODER) Chair Feyzullah Yetgin said. Turkish house sales dropped 12.5 percent year-on-year in August.