Turkey’s 500,000 home social housing plan: what it means for rents and investors

On 24 October 2025, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched what the government calls the Housing Project of the Century: 500,000 social homes to be built across all 81 of Turkey’s provinces. The homes will be delivered by TOKİ, the Housing Development Administration, the state agency that has built about 1.74 million social homes to date, according to the environment and urbanisation ministry. The government describes the new program as the largest in the country’s history.

Its stated aims are to help lower income families buy a home on long payment terms and to take pressure off rents, particularly in Istanbul. For foreign investors, the second aim is the one to watch.

What was announced

• Where. 100,000 homes in Istanbul, on both the European and Asian sides; 30,000 in Ankara; 21,000 in İzmir; 13,000 each in Bursa, Gaziantep and Konya; and 12,000 each in Hatay and Diyarbakır. The rest will be spread across other provinces.
• What. Apartments in the Turkish 1+1 and 2+1 formats, meaning one or two bedrooms plus a living room, in low rise buildings of traditional design.
• Price. 1.8 million lira per home, roughly US$43,000 at current exchange rates, with monthly instalments reported from about 6,700 lira.
• Rentals. For the first time, TOKİ will also offer social rental homes to eligible citizens at about half the market rent.
• Quota. 10 percent of homes are reserved for families with three or more children.

The program is designed for Turkish citizens on lower incomes. Nothing in the announcement suggests that foreigners can buy or rent these homes, and they have no connection to the citizenship by investment program.

Why rents are the target

Rents in Turkey have risen quickly for several years. Figures from Endeksa, a property data platform, reported in July 2025 showed rents up about 32.6 percent in the twelve months to June 2025, and 21.5 percent in the first half of the year alone. The average monthly rent nationally was about 22,681 lira. In Istanbul, Endeksa had recorded a rise of almost 47 percent in the year to July 2024.

Rents have outpaced sale prices, which has improved returns for landlords. The same July 2025 data put the national amortisation period, the number of years of rent needed to repay the purchase price, at about 13 years, down from 23 to 24 years five years earlier. Thirteen years is equivalent to a gross yield of roughly 7.7 percent a year. In Istanbul the period was longer, about 16 to 19 years in 2024, which implies gross yields of around 5 to 6 percent.

What extra supply could mean for investors

The new homes are aimed at a very different buyer from the typical citizenship investor. The property route to Turkish citizenship starts at US$400,000, about ten times the price of a TOKİ home, so the two segments rarely compete for the same buyers.

The overlap is in rentals. Every household that moves into a TOKİ home, bought or rented, is one fewer tenant competing for private flats at the budget end of the market. Over time that could slow rent growth for smaller, older apartments in outer districts, which are the closest substitutes. A program of this size takes years to build, so the effect is likely to be gradual rather than sudden.

Homes in central districts, newer complexes with amenities, and family apartments near transport and good schools serve a different tenant and are less directly exposed. For investors, the practical conclusion is to base income forecasts on the specific building and district, and to avoid assuming that recent rates of rent growth will continue unchanged. More stable rents are also easier to plan around than volatile ones.

What it means if you are considering Turkey

For anyone buying in Turkey, whether to qualify for citizenship or simply to let, the TOKİ plan is a reminder to look at local supply as well as local demand. Useful checks include:

• Rental comparables for the exact district and building type, from recent lettings.
• Whether large housing projects, public or private, are planned nearby.
• The title deed history and any charges or annotations on the property.
• The occupancy permit, which confirms the building was completed in line with its permit.
• An official valuation that supports the price, which the citizenship route requires.

Our real estate due diligence service covers these checks in Turkey, with a written report before you commit. For the citizenship route itself, see our Turkey citizenship by investment program. We help clients apply, work with our local team, and quote fixed fees in writing.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.