TurkStat figures, updated monthly

Foreign home purchases in Istanbul, by district and nationality

Foreigners bought 763 homes in Istanbul in August 2026, 39.4% of all homes sold to foreigners in Turkey. In Jan–Aug 2026 they bought 5,716: purchases rose 3.5% on the same months of 2025, while across Turkey they fell 6.3%. Buyers from Iran, China and Russia bought the most this year.

Data as of . Source: TurkStat (TÜİK), house sales statistics. Shares and changes are our calculation.

At a glance

House sales to foreigners in Istanbul, key figures
August 2026763 homes (Aug 2025: 755)
Jan–Aug 20265,716 homes, +3.5% on Jan–Aug 2025
12 months, Sep 2025–Aug 20269,294 homes
Full year 20259,101 homes
Istanbul's share of foreign purchases in Turkey43.5% in Jan–Aug 2026 (5,716 of 13,141)
Foreign share of all Istanbul house sales3.7% in August 2026 (763 of 20,426)

Foreign purchases by district

All 39 districts, ranked by purchases in Jan–Aug 2026. A change is shown only where the same months of 2025 had at least 30 sales; on smaller numbers one or two sales swing the percentage. These are purchases, not rents: no official statistic gives rents or yields for individual districts.

House sales to foreigners by Istanbul district, the ten districts with the most: August 2026, Jan–Aug 2026, Jan–Aug 2025, full year 2025 and the last 12 months
DistrictAug 2026Jan–Aug 2026Jan–Aug 2025ChangeShare of Istanbul202512 months to Aug 2026
Istanbul, all districts 763 5,716 5,523 +3.5% 100% 9,101 9,294
Esenyurt 164 1,133 1,396 −19% 19.8% 2,229 1,966
Beylikdüzü 71 526 445 +18% 9.2% 758 839
Bağcılar 79 461 422 +9% 8.1% 625 664
Başakşehir 50 447 395 +13% 7.8% 736 788
Küçükçekmece 36 334 286 +17% 5.8% 435 483
Zeytinburnu 31 252 246 +2% 4.4% 383 389
Şişli 25 245 247 −1% 4.3% 363 361
Avcılar 36 222 203 +9% 3.9% 332 351
Eyüpsultan 38 215 131 +64% 3.8% 283 367
Kağıthane 23 194 170 +14% 3.4% 276 300

Districts ranked 11 to 39
House sales to foreigners by Istanbul district, ranked 11 to 39: August 2026, Jan–Aug 2026, Jan–Aug 2025, full year 2025 and the last 12 months
DistrictAug 2026Jan–Aug 2026Jan–Aug 2025ChangeShare of Istanbul202512 months to Aug 2026
Büyükçekmece 22 188 214 −12% 3.3% 339 313
Fatih 17 144 134 +7% 2.5% 234 244
Sarıyer 16 139 143 −3% 2.4% 262 258
Kadıköy 12 134 113 +19% 2.3% 191 212
Beyoğlu 24 132 71 +86% 2.3% 110 171
Maltepe 8 108 92 +17% 1.9% 165 181
Ümraniye 20 104 102 +2% 1.8% 153 155
Bahçelievler 21 94 68 +38% 1.6% 138 164
Kartal 11 92 91 +1% 1.6% 169 170
Ataşehir 7 78 60 +30% 1.4% 88 106
Gaziosmanpaşa 4 55 60 −8% 1.0% 107 102
Beşiktaş 1 52 48 +8% 0.9% 78 82
Bakırköy 5 48 44 +9% 0.8% 87 91
Pendik 6 46 53 −13% 0.8% 81 74
Üsküdar 7 44 41 +7% 0.8% 78 81
Silivri 7 33 42 −21% 0.6% 58 49
Arnavutköy 1 31 23 — 0.5% 43 51
Sultangazi 2 26 38 −32% 0.5% 65 53
Çekmeköy 2 26 18 — 0.5% 27 35
Bayrampaşa 1 20 19 — 0.3% 36 37
Güngören 3 19 25 — 0.3% 42 36
Sancaktepe 2 19 12 — 0.3% 21 28
Beykoz 2 16 12 — 0.3% 22 26
Tuzla 3 14 25 — 0.2% 39 28
Sultanbeyli 0 10 5 — 0.2% 10 15
Esenler 4 8 11 — 0.1% 16 13
Şile 1 5 18 — 0.1% 21 8
Adalar 1 1 0 — <0.1% 1 2
Çatalca 0 1 0 — <0.1% 0 1

District names link to our sourced English district guides where one exists. TurkStat gives each district a code (for example Esenyurt is 2053); the CSV below carries the codes and TurkStat's own spelling.

Buyers by nationality, Istanbul

The fifteen nationalities that bought the most homes in Istanbul in Jan–Aug 2026, with TurkStat's own country labels. In August 2026 alone the top three were Iran (105), China (104) and Iraq (43).

House sales to foreigners in Istanbul by buyer nationality, top 15
Nationality, as TurkStat labels itJan–Aug 2026Jan–Aug 20252025
Iran8248281,414
China730455751
Russia321241371
Occupied Palestinian Territory315261465
Iraq295299501
Azerbaijan235263437
Afghanistan223211365
Pakistan198130242
Turkmenistan167124233
Egypt163155272
United States156144243
Israel139144234
Yemen129137210
Saudi Arabia117257403
Uzbekistan116103192

Do not add the rows up. The nationality counts for Jan–Aug 2026 sum to 5,726, against 5,716 homes sold. TurkStat does not explain the difference; one possible reason is a home bought jointly by buyers of different nationalities, counted under each.

Foreign share of all Istanbul house sales

Foreign buyers are a small part of Istanbul's market. In August 2026 they made 763 of the city's 20,426 house sales: 3.7%. Over Jan–Aug 2026 the share was 3.3% (5,716 of 174,524), and in 2025 as a whole 2.9%. The TurkStat tables used here give total house sales for Istanbul as a whole, not by district, so this share is city-wide.

Related

Compiled by: Turc Global Real Estate team · Licence No 3417413 Data as of:

Methodology and sources

  • What is counted. House sales to foreign nationals recorded at the land registry, as TurkStat publishes them in its monthly house sales statistics: Istanbul and each of its 39 districts, and Istanbul by the buyer's nationality. Homes only; commercial property is left out. Latest month: August 2026.
  • Checks. A district missing from TurkStat's table had no sales that month and is counted as zero. The 39 districts add up to the Istanbul total in every month we publish.
  • Our calculation. Year-to-date sums, the same months a year earlier, the last twelve months, shares and changes. A change is suppressed where the base is under 30 sales.
  • Timing. TurkStat publishes each month's figures in the middle of the following month.

Sources and terms

Download and cite

Download the counts as a CSV file: every month since January 2025 for Turkey, Istanbul and all 39 districts, all house sales in Istanbul, and Istanbul by buyer nationality with TurkStat's English and Turkish labels. Our compilation is free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0; the counts themselves are TurkStat's.

To cite this page: Turc Global Real Estate (2026), Foreign Home Purchases in Istanbul by District and Nationality, tgemlak.com/en/istanbul-foreign-home-sales/, data as of 10 October 2026.

Frequently Asked

Questions about foreign purchases in Istanbul

How many homes do foreigners buy in Istanbul?

5,716 in Jan–Aug 2026, and 9,101 in the whole of 2025, on TurkStat's figures. In August 2026 alone foreigners bought 763 homes in Istanbul, 39.4% of all homes sold to foreigners in Turkey.

Which Istanbul districts do foreigners buy in most?

Esenyurt, by a wide margin: 1,133 of the 5,716 foreign purchases in Jan–Aug 2026 (19.8%). Then Beylikdüzü (526), Bağcılar (461) and Başakşehir (447). The table on this page ranks all 39 districts.

Which nationalities buy the most homes in Istanbul?

In Jan–Aug 2026, in TurkStat's labels: Iran (824), China (730), Russia (321), Occupied Palestinian Territory (315) and Iraq (295). In 2025 as a whole the first three were Iran, China and Iraq.

What share of Istanbul home sales goes to foreigners?

A small part: 3.7% in August 2026, when foreigners made 763 of 20,426 house sales in the city, and 3.3% over Jan–Aug 2026.

Can I use these figures in an article or a report?

Yes. Our tables and the CSV are free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0. The counts are TurkStat's, which may be reused with the source cited, so please name TurkStat as the source and link this page for the compilation.

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