Property Valuation Reports in Turkey: When Foreign Buyers Still Need One
For five years every foreign buyer in Turkey had to commission an official appraisal. That general requirement was lifted in June 2024 — but not for everyone, and not for every purpose. Here is who still needs a valuation report, and why you might want one even when the law no longer asks for it.
The rule that quietly reversed
If you researched buying in Turkey a few years ago and have come back to the idea recently, this is one of the details most likely to trip you up — because the guidance you read the first time is now wrong, and a good deal of what is still published online has never been updated.
From 2019, Turkey required an official valuation report for every acquisition of real estate by a foreign national. The report had to be prepared by an appraiser or appraisal company licensed by the Capital Markets Board, the Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu or SPK, and the Land Registry would not complete a transfer to a foreign buyer without one. It was an anti-fraud and anti-inflation measure, aimed squarely at the practice of selling to overseas buyers at prices bearing little relation to the local market.
That general obligation no longer exists. Under Circular No. 2024/4, which took effect on 13 June 2024, the requirement to obtain a valuation report for ordinary property acquisitions by foreigners was removed. A foreign buyer purchasing an apartment simply to own it, live in it or let it out is no longer obliged to commission an appraisal before the title can be transferred.
One significant exception was retained, and it is the one that matters most to a large share of the buyers who come to Turkey. Transfers and declarations made for the purpose of acquiring Turkish citizenship still require a valuation. Where the purchase is intended to support a citizenship application, the qualifying amount is evidenced through the process rather than taken on trust, using an amount determination certificate known in Turkish as the Tutar Tespit Belgesi, or TTB.
The practical effect is that the valuation report has moved from being a compulsory transaction cost for every foreign buyer to being either a citizenship-route requirement or a voluntary piece of due diligence. That is a meaningful change in both money and time, and it is worth knowing which category your own purchase falls into before you are quoted for something you may not need.
It is equally worth knowing that removing the requirement did not remove the reason it was introduced. The risk of a foreign buyer paying materially above local market value did not disappear on 13 June 2024; the state simply stopped mandating the check. If anything, that shifts responsibility onto the buyer, which is why a good many well-advised purchasers now commission a valuation voluntarily.
Valuation reports at a glance
Turkish property appraisals for foreign buyers
How to tell whether you need a valuation report
Almost every question about Turkish valuation reports resolves into one prior question: what is the purchase actually for? Answer that first and the rest follows.
Decide what the purchase is for, honestly
A property bought to live in, to let, or simply to hold is an ordinary acquisition and no valuation report is required of you. A property bought with the intention of supporting a citizenship application is a different transaction in the eyes of the Land Registry, even if the apartment is identical. Decide which one you are making before you start, because converting from one to the other later is not always straightforward.
If citizenship is the aim, treat valuation as part of the process
Where the purchase is intended to support Turkish citizenship, the valuation requirement was expressly retained when the general obligation was lifted, and the qualifying amount is certified rather than assumed. Our guide to Турецкое гражданство за инвестиции sets out how the route works as a whole and where the valuation sits within it.
Check that the appraiser is SPK-licensed
Where a valuation is required, it must come from an appraiser or appraisal firm authorised by the Capital Markets Board. A report from an unlicensed valuer, an estate agent’s written opinion or a developer’s own price list is not the same document and will not be treated as one. If you are given a report, check the licence before you rely on it.
Do not confuse market value with the official tax value
Turkish property carries an administrative value used for local property tax purposes, which is set by the municipality and is a different figure arrived at in a different way from an appraiser’s assessment of open market value. The two are routinely confused in conversation and occasionally in marketing material. If a number is quoted to you, establish which of the two it is. Our guide to property taxes in Turkey explains where the tax value comes in.
If you are borrowing, expect the lender to want its own
A bank lending against Turkish property will generally commission its own appraisal, because it is lending against its own view of the security rather than yours. That valuation serves the lender and is not a substitute for advice to you. Our guide to a mortgage in Turkey for foreigners covers what lenders look for.
Consider commissioning one voluntarily anyway
Where no report is required, one can still be worth having — particularly if you are buying remotely, buying from a developer, or buying in a market you do not know well. It is a modest cost against the size of the transaction, and it is the only document in the process that offers an independent professional opinion on whether the price makes sense.
Keep the report with your ownership file
If a valuation is produced, keep it alongside the title deed, the occupancy permit and your purchase contract. Valuations are prepared as at a date and are not indefinitely current, so note when yours was issued; if it is needed later for an application or a sale, you may be asked for one prepared more recently.
What a Turkish valuation report actually contains
A proper appraisal is a structured professional document, not a one-line estimate. Knowing what belongs in it is the easiest way to recognise one that falls short.
Identification of the property
The parcel, block and independent unit details as recorded at the Land Registry, tying the report to a specific legal property rather than a marketing description.
Legal and title position
The ownership position and the encumbrances and annotations recorded against the title, which is often where a report earns its fee by surfacing something nobody mentioned.
Physical inspection
An actual visit and description of the building and the unit: construction, condition, age, size and the permits the building holds.
Comparable evidence
Recent sales and asking prices for genuinely comparable properties nearby, which is what separates a valuation from an opinion.
Planning and zoning position
The zoning status of the plot and whether what has been built matches what was permitted — a check that matters far more than most buyers expect.
A reasoned market value
A stated value as at a specific date, with the reasoning that produced it, signed by an appraiser licensed by the Capital Markets Board.
When a valuation report is required, and when it is not
The position below reflects the rules as they stand after Circular No. 2024/4 took effect on 13 June 2024. Requirements change; confirm your own case before you commit.
| Situation | Valuation report required? | Примечания |
|---|---|---|
| Foreigner buying to live in or hold | Not required | The general obligation was lifted on 13 June 2024 |
| Foreigner buying to let out | Not required | Treated as an ordinary acquisition |
| Purchase supporting a citizenship application | Требуется | Exception expressly retained; amount certified by TTB |
| Buying with a Turkish mortgage | Lender-driven | The bank generally commissions its own appraisal |
| Selling a Turkish property | Not required | No general obligation on the seller |
| Buying remotely, sight unseen | Необязательно | Not required, but among the strongest reasons to obtain one |
| Buying off-plan from a developer | Необязательно | Voluntary; occupancy permit and contract checks matter more |
| Any purchase before 13 June 2024 | Was required | The old regime applied to all foreign acquisitions |
Why buyers still pay for a report nobody is asking them for
It seems counterintuitive to commission a document the law has just stopped requiring. But the reasoning holds up, and it comes down to what the report is actually for. The 2019 requirement existed because foreign buyers, negotiating in an unfamiliar market and often in a second language, were paying prices that local buyers would not have paid. Lifting the requirement removed the obligation. It did not remove the asymmetry.
A valuation is the only step in a Turkish purchase that produces an independent professional opinion on price. Your agent has an interest in the sale completing. The developer has an interest in the list price. The seller has an interest in the highest number achievable. An SPK-licensed appraiser, commissioned by you, has an interest in being right — and is the only party in the transaction whose licence depends on it.
There is a second benefit that buyers tend to discover only afterwards. Because a proper report examines the title position, the annotations, the zoning status and the permits alongside the physical property, it frequently surfaces something that had not come up: a discrepancy between what was built and what was approved, an annotation nobody mentioned, a building without the occupancy permit the brochure implied. Those findings are usually worth considerably more than the report cost.
The third reason is about the sale price you declare. Turkish practice has long included pressure to record a lower figure on the title deed than the amount actually paid, on the basis that it reduces transfer costs today. It is a poor trade even leaving aside its legality: the declared figure becomes your acquisition cost, and a lower one can increase the gain assessed against you when you eventually sell. An independent valuation gives you a defensible, evidenced figure and removes the argument entirely. We look at this and the other recurring traps in our guide to the pitfalls foreign buyers still fall into.
We have deliberately not published a price range for valuation reports on this page. Appraisal fees in Turkey vary by property type, value and location, and any figure quoted here would be out of date quickly enough to mislead. Ask two SPK-licensed firms for a quotation on your specific property and you will have a current answer rather than a stale one.
Not sure whether your purchase needs a valuation?
Tell us what you are buying and why, and we will tell you what the process actually requires — before you pay for anything.
Valuation reports in Turkey: common questions
What foreign buyers ask most often once they discover the rule has changed since they last looked into it.
Related guides for buyers
A valuation is one check among several. These guides cover the parts of a Turkish purchase most often needed alongside it:
- The tapu (title deed) explained — what the deed records, and why the annotations page matters most.
- Pitfalls foreign buyers fall into — the avoidable mistakes behind most problem purchases.
- Турецкое гражданство за инвестиции — how the property route works, and where valuation sits within it.
- Property taxes in Turkey — how the official tax value is used, and what owners pay.
- Mortgages for foreigners — what lenders require, including their own appraisal.
- Habitation certificate (iskan) — the occupancy permit a valuation will check for.
- Is it safe to buy property in Turkey? — the protections built into the purchase process.
- All Turkey property guides — the full library of buyer and owner guidance.
Have the checks run before you commit
Tell us the property you are considering and we will tell you what your purchase actually requires — whether a valuation is needed for your route, and what the title, zoning and permit position looks like — before anything is signed.
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