Turkish court restricts foreigner realty sales
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s Constitutional Court yesterday canceled a law allowing sales of real estate to foreign companies, the court said on its website. Turkey’s center-right government had previously approved a law allowing property sales to foreigners as part of a drive to open up the economy and to meet legal standards of the European Union which Turkey hopes to join. The court ruling affects a part of a foreign direct investment law which allows companies established by foreign investors to acquire property in Turkey. The ruling came nearly a year after the Ankara-based court ruled against a separate complaint which would have allowed the cabinet to increase the amount of land owned by individual foreigners in Turkey by up to 30 hectares. In recent years, Turkey’s relatively cheap real estate sector has attracted great interest from foreign buyers, sending prices soaring.
