every foreigner who meets the required conditions can apply for Turkish citizenship . A committee of representatives from the Ministries of Interior , Treasury , Finance , Environment , Urban Development , Labor , Social and Family Services , Industry and Technology will be formed later to monitor and follow up on applicants for Turkish citizenship . In addition , special offices will be opened to receive applications for Turkish citizenship and conduct their affairs . These offices will be subject to the supervision of the committee of these ministries .
After seeing a decline in 2016 , housing sales to foreigners in Turkey recorded a 22.2 percent increase , reaching 22,234 and generating $ 4.6 billion in 2017 , the value of house sales to foreigners in 2017 was recorded at $ 4.6 billion , registering a 19.4 percent increase compared to the previous year , according to a report , titled " Current Sectorial Development ." Prepared by Turkey ' s İş Bank , the report revealed that house purchases by foreigners in 2017 saw increases each month as the interest of foreign citizens in the Turkish real estate sector grows . According to the report , the number of houses sold to foreigners in 2017 saw a 22.2 increase compared to 2016 and reached 22,234 . On a city-by-city basis , Istanbul led the way with 8,183 houses in 2017 and Turkey ' s largest metropolis was followed by the resort city of Antalya .
The third city , which saw the highest number of housing sales to foreigners , was the southern Marmara city of Bursa with 1,474 units and another Marmara city Yalova came fourth with 1,079 housing units . Located on the Black Sea coast , Trabzon ranked fifth with 978 sales to foreigners . The Aegean city Aydın , the capital Ankara and industrial city Sakarya followed suit with 826,817 and 770 housing sales to foreigners in 2017 , respectively . In another holiday resort Muğla , which harbors the world-renown Bodrum , a total of 634 houses were sold to foreigners last year and Mersin saw foreigners ’ purchases 600 housing units in 2017 .
Looking at the annual distribution of housing sales , figures show the increase continued from 2013 to 2015 but saw a decline in 2016 .
In 2013 , a total of 12,181 houses sold to foreigners and the number increased to 18,959 in 2014 . The year 2015 saw the highest number of housing sales to foreigners with 22,830 . In 2016 , however , the housing sales to foreigners dropped to 18,189 .
On a national basis , Iraqis who bought 3,805 houses in Turkey last year led the way in housing sales to foreigners in the country . The data revealed that Saudis ranked second with 3,345 housing purchases and they are followed by Kuwaitis who purchased 1,691 houses last year . Russians came fourth on the list with 1,331 houses and Afghans who purchased 1,078 houses came fifth .
Azeri citizens and British citizens bought 942 and 794 houses in Turkey last year , respectively . German citizens followed them with 772 housing units and Iranians were recorded to have purchased 792 houses in the country last year .
Faruk Akbal , chairman of Nevita International , which was established by Fuzul Group for real estate sales to foreigners , said the increase in house sales to foreigners will continue in 2018 as well .