site.btaReal Estate Market Shifts: Turks Invest More Abroad than Foreigners in Turkiye

The real estate sector in Turkiye, considered by experts to be one of the safest havens of the Turkish economy, is about to change. According to data released by financial analyst İris Cibre to the Karar newspaper, investments in real estate purchases made by Turkish citizens abroad in early 2025 exceeded those made by foreigners in Turkiye for the first time. According to the expert, this represents “a turning point in the development of the sector.”

The graphs published in the newspaper show that foreign investment in real estate in Turkiye declined sharply after peaking in 2022. Conversely, Turkish investment in real estate abroad has increased dramatically over the past two years, reaching a historic high. In the graph, the two curves, representing foreign purchases of real estate in Turkiye and Turkish investments in real estate abroad, respectively, intersect in the first months of 2025, illustrating an important turning point: the number of Turkish citizen buying property abroad now exceeds the number of foreigners buying property in Turkiye.

Several fundamental reasons are cited for this historic change. Excessively high housing prices in Turkiye, fears of the Turkish lira's devaluation amid high inflation, and local investors' pursuit of higher returns are driving citizens to foreign markets, which they consider more attractive, experts explain. Portugal, Greece, Dubai, and the US are particularly popular destinations for Turkish citizens looking to buy real estate.

Meanwhile, the decline in foreign investor interest in Turkiye is also having a strong impact. Both the global economic climate and the economic uncertainty specific to Turkiye appear to have reduced foreign investors' appetite for risk.

According to Karar, this trend sends important signals about the Turkish economy. First, the transfer of local capital abroad may be a sign of erosion of confidence in the country's investment climate, the daily noted.

“The long-standing rhetoric of ‘we earn foreign currency by selling homes to foreigners’ has now been replaced by the reality of ‘citizens investing their foreign currency in homes abroad,’” the Turkish newspaper concluded.