Buying property in Turkey vs Spain

Turkey, and not narrowly. The buyer's side runs about 2 percent there against about 8 percent in Spain, where most of the bill is ITP at rates each autonomous community sets for itself. Two things move the Turkish figure, both upward. The 2 percent is the buyer's half of the 4 percent tapu harci fixed by the Fees Law, and because the split is negotiable a buyer can end up paying all 4 percent, which is common on new-build. A foreign buyer also pays for the SPK-licensed valuation report the transfer requires, typically USD 300 to 500. Even at 4 percent plus the report, Turkey costs about half what Spain does to transact. Purchase prices are a separate question, and the two markets do not price in the same currency.

In Turkey: Land Registry Officer (Tapu Mudurlugu staff), with the transfer recorded at the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Mudurlugu, TKGM). In Spain: Notary (notario), with the transfer recorded at the Registro de la Propiedad (Land Registry). In both countries the oversight comes with the transfer itself, so it applies whether or not an agent introduced the parties.

The headline purchase tax in Turkey is the Title deed fee (tapu harci) and its legal basis. In Spain it is the Property Transfer Tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales, ITP), paid by the buyer. Each country guide covers the full list, including the smaller registry and filing charges.

Agent commission typically runs 2 to 4% of the price in Turkey and 3 to 5% in Spain, and commission is negotiable in both markets. Owners can also sell without an agent in either country, which turns the commission into a choice rather than a fixed exit cost.

Yes in both, and Spain is the one buyers get wrong. Turkey bars foreign nationals from acquiring or leasing inside prohibited military zones and military security zones, and permits acquisition inside special security zones only with the consent of the governor's office. Two ceilings sit above that: one foreign individual may hold at most 30 hectares in the country, and foreign owners together may not exceed 10 percent of the area open to private property in any single district, a quota that can already be close to full in the coastal districts foreign buyers favor. Spain looks open by comparison, and mostly is, but Ley 8/1975 and its 1978 regulation define restricted access zones in which a buyer who is not an EU national needs military authorization to acquire: the islands, the Cartagena area, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bay of Cadiz, Galicia, and the strips along the French and Portuguese borders. The regulation leaves the existing urban cores of non-border towns outside the regime, so what it catches is country property and border towns rather than a flat in a city center. Buy without the authorization where it was required and the acquisition cannot be registered, which the regulation treats as void. EU nationals were removed from the regime by an amendment in Ley 31/1990, so the rule reaches American, British, Canadian, and other non-EU buyers.

Only one of the two still trades property for status. Turkey grants citizenship by presidential decision to a buyer who acquires property worth at least USD 400,000 and accepts a restriction on the title deed barring resale for three years, and that amount is measured against the SPK-licensed valuation every sale to a foreign national needs anyway rather than against whatever the contract says. Short of the threshold, a foreign owner still qualifies for renewable short-term residence permits under Law 6458. Spain closed the equivalent door when it abolished the investor visa in April 2025, so a Spanish purchase leaves your immigration position exactly where it was, and a non-EU owner remains limited to 90 days in any 180 across the Schengen area, house or no house. Deciding between the two on immigration grounds means deciding between a citizenship program and no program at all.