Why the advertised number is rarely the real return

„"10 to 12 percent ROI." "12,000 euros guaranteed rental income per year." "Airbnb license available." Investors in the Turkish market encounter such statements almost daily. Often, there is a genuine economic basis for them. However, these figures alone are insufficient for a sound decision, as they usually only describe the best-case scenario.

Those who Investment properties in Türkiye Anyone wanting to make a serious assessment should therefore consider several questions separately. First, the legal permissibility of the desired rental arrangement should be examined. This is followed by realistic income figures, the total costs, and only then the tax implications.

10–12 % ROI — first ask: Percent of what?

A common calculation is simply annual rent divided by purchase price. With a purchase price of €150,000 and an expected annual rent of €15,000, this mathematically yields exactly 10 percent. While this figure is mathematically correct, it only describes the gross rental yield on the purchase price alone.

This does not include, for example, Tapu costs, real estate agent fees, furnishings, electrical appliances, renovations, Aidat (a German land registry fee), maintenance, insurance, property tax, vacancy costs, rental management, platform fees, cleaning, laundry, and taxes. Therefore, the statement "this apartment yields 10 percent" is initially meaningless without a detailed breakdown of the calculation.

70 euros per night is not yet a return on investment calculation.

When it comes to tourist apartments, the potential daily rate is often cited as a selling point. While this information can certainly be valuable, it's insufficient for calculating a return on investment. The crucial question is: How many nights per year are actually paid for?

Three scenarios instead of one desired number

Rental guarantee: €12,000 income is not automatically 8 % net

Apartments with a rental or income guarantee can be quite attractive financially. For example, a developer might promise an annual income of €12,000 for five years. However, a guaranteed income is not the same as a guaranteed net return, as all costs lie between these two figures.

Nine points that should be clarified in writing for every rental guarantee.

„Airbnb license“ — what permit is actually meant?

The term Airbnb license is frequently used, but legally it is inaccurate. The platform itself does not issue any Turkish rental permit. Instead, the decisive factor is the state-issued license. Turizm Amaçlı Kiralama İzin Belgesi of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

According to Law No. 7464, an apartment falls under the category of short-term tourist rentals as soon as it is made available to a user for a maximum of 100 days per contract. The necessary permit must generally be obtained before the first rental agreement is signed. Furthermore, this requirement applies not only to Airbnb but also to bookings made through Booking.com, a private website, social media, or other online platforms.

Legal basis: Law No. 7464 — TC Kultur ve Turizm Bakanlığı

Always check the permit for the specific apartment.

A seller might say that Airbnb is permitted in this building. However, this information is insufficient for a reliable verification, as the permit is always issued for a specific apartment and a specific owner. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism maintains a public register where the permit number, owner, province, county, and permit type can be looked up.

Register: Approved Apartments — TC Kultür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

Reaching a unanimous decision is often the bigger hurdle.

For a standard condominium in a multi-unit building, the law requires a unanimous decision from all owners in the building. For investors, this is often the most critical point in the entire calculation, as a single dissenting vote is sufficient.

Special case Yüksek Nitelikli Konut

A luxury residential complex is not automatically a legally classified facility under the law. The term is legally defined and requires specific facilities and services, such as reception, security, daily cleaning, laundry, transportation, catering, fitness center, and pool.

For genuinely qualified establishments, special regulations apply to tourist rentals. In particular, the unanimity requirement and the 25 percent limit do not apply in the same way. Under certain conditions, the establishment operator may also assume a separate role in the rental process.

Who operates the rental business — and what are the costs of a violation?

For investors residing in Germany, a local company usually handles the entire operation. The crucial question, however, is not whether there is management, but rather on what legal basis this management operates the tourist rental business.

Furthermore, the law contains provisions regarding the brokering and involvement of authorized travel agencies. Separate regulations also apply to qualified residential complexes.

Fines for unauthorized short-term rentals

The fine applies to individuals and companies that rent out properties to tourists without a permit. It is explicitly not a fine for simply purchasing an apartment. Originally, the law stipulated a scale of 100,000 lira to 500,000 to 1,000,000 lira; these amounts have since been increased through annual reassessment.

Source: Turizm Amaçlı Konut ve Başvuruları — TC Kultur and Turizm Bakanlığı

The often misunderstood five-dwelling rule

This rule does not mean that an activity involving five or more Airbnb apartments automatically becomes a commercial activity for tax purposes. Rather, it falls under licensing regulations: If the same landlord applies for a short-term permit for more than five apartments in the same building, a business license is also required. Therefore, it is usually irrelevant for the typical foreign buyer of a single apartment.

Short-term rentals and taxes: automatically a business?

A more nuanced approach is also worthwhile from a tax perspective. The blanket statement that an Airbnb apartment is automatically considered a business is too simplistic. While the Turkish tax authorities have classified daily or weekly rentals as business income in certain individual cases, there is also an important counter-argument.

The Turkish Court of Justice of the European Union (Danıştay) clarified on April 14, 2025, that short-term rentals via an online platform and frequently changing tenants alone are not necessarily sufficient to automatically assume a commercial activity. Rather, a hotel-like organization and additional services are significant.

Why the classification moves so much money

If the rental activity is classified as commercial for tax purposes, additional obligations apply. These include tax registration, bookkeeping, invoicing and documentation requirements, tax compliance, potentially a lodging tax, and other business requirements. In contrast, traditional private rentals are generally subject to the standardized system of commercial and residential property management (GMSI).

Approval and tax classification are therefore two separate processes. A tourist rental can thus be fully approved, while the tax treatment of the income must be clarified independently.

Long-term letting: GMSİ and tax-free allowance

If a private individual rents out property on a long-term basis, this is generally considered a form of taxable income (Gayrimenkul Sermaye İradı). For 2026, the tax-free allowance for residential rental income is 58,000 TL, provided the legal requirements are met. It's important to note that this 58,000 TL is not a tax amount, but rather an allowance when calculating taxable income.

Source: Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı — Turkish Tax Administration

Investor in Germany, apartment in Turkey

For a property owner who is a tax resident in Germany, the double taxation agreement between the two countries also comes into play. According to Article 6 of the agreement, income from real estate located in Turkey may, in principle, be taxed in Turkey.

For traditional real estate rentals, the agreement generally provides for an exemption of this income for Germany. However, Germany may, under certain conditions, take it into account when determining the tax rate on other German income. This is technically known as the progression clause.

Source: Double Taxation Agreement Germany–Türkiye — Federal Ministry of Finance

Foreigners with permanent residence in Turkey

Here, it is not nationality that is decisive, but tax residency. Those who are permanently resident in Turkey are generally subject to more extensive tax obligations there. If there are connecting factors in both countries, the agreement examines the following criteria in sequence.

Anyone spending a significant part of the year in Turkey should clarify their tax residency status as early as possible. Otherwise, they risk inquiries from both tax authorities.

Off-plan: 10 % cheaper is no 10 % return

Another popular sales argument is that during the construction phase, you buy at a 10 percent discount and have thus practically earned a year's return. However, this conflates two completely different things: a one-time purchase advantage and a recurring cash flow.

The advantage only materializes if the apartment can actually be valued or sold at a correspondingly higher price after completion. Until then, it remains an assumption. Therefore, the following risks must be included in every off-plan calculation.

Total investment: What did the apartment actually cost?

A professional return calculation starts with the total capital investment, not the asking price. The difference between these two figures can easily be 8 to 12 percent. This difference is precisely what determines whether the final return is in the single or double digits.

Setting the correct Tapu Harçı and brokerage fees

The legally mandated Tapu fee is generally 2 percent for the buyer and 2 percent for the seller, totaling 4 percent. However, for your own return calculation, only the portion actually paid by the investor is relevant. If the buyer contractually agrees to also cover the seller's share, this amount is naturally included in the investment costs as well.

The legal limit for real estate agent commissions is 4 percent of the purchase price plus any applicable taxes and fees. The agreement also stipulates how this amount is divided between buyer and seller. Again, only the portion of the commission borne by the buyer is considered for the purposes of calculating the return on investment.

Source: GIB — Taxation of Real Estate Purchases

Other one-off costs that are often forgotten

From gross rent to net property yield

Once the capital investment is determined, the ongoing costs follow. Numerous items, rarely mentioned in sales discussions, are deducted from the annual rent. Only after these deductions is the net operating profit before personal income tax calculated.

Emlak Vergisi — the current property tax

For residential properties, the standard rate is generally 0.1 percent of the assessed value for tax purposes. In Büyükşehir areas, this rate doubles, meaning that for a typical apartment in places like Alanya or Antalya, the rate is generally 0.2 percent. The basis for calculation is explicitly not the purchase price, but the assessed value for tax purposes.

Source: GIB — Emlak Vergisi

Değerli Konut Vergisi at particularly valuable apartments

For highly valued residential properties, it's also worth considering the Değerli Konut Vergisi (Deserving Property Tax). For 2026, the relevant threshold is a property tax value of 17,711,000 TL. However, important exemptions exist: those who own only one qualifying residential property in Turkey may be exempt. For multiple properties, further special rules apply.

Source: GİB — Değerli Konut Vergisi Rehberi 2026

Calculate it yourself: Gross and net return calculator

To help you immediately understand the advertised figures, we've included two simple calculators. The first shows the gross rental yield on the actual total investment. The second deducts the ongoing costs and provides the net yield before tax. All values remain in your browser and are not stored anywhere.

Four figures instead of a single ROI figure

The net return on investment shows how economically the property itself performs. However, the owner's personal income tax must then be added. Two buyers of the same apartment can therefore achieve completely different results, depending on their place of residence, other income, tax status, and the building's management structure.

Do not simply add up value appreciation and rental yield

A statement like "8 percent rental yield plus 10 percent appreciation equals 18 percent ROI" is oversimplification. Rental yield is simply ongoing cash flow, while appreciation initially remains an unrealized increase in market value. Therefore, both figures should be reported separately and can only be meaningfully combined in a multi-year total return calculation.

Sale within five years

For privately owned Turkish real estate, a sale within five years of acquisition can generally trigger a taxable Değer Artışı Kazancı (real estate transfer tax). The corresponding tax-free allowance for 2026 is 150,000 TL. After the five-year period, the sale of a typical private property is generally no longer subject to this rule, while different regulations apply to commercial transactions.

For German investors, the return in euros is what counts.

A particularly important factor with Turkish real estate is the currency risk. An apartment can generate increasing rental income in lira while the lira simultaneously depreciates against the euro. In this case, the actual euro return will be significantly lower than the local figure would suggest.

International investors should therefore always keep track of both calculations. Otherwise, growth will appear on paper that will never be reflected in their own accounts.

Long-term rental or short-term rental?

Both models can be useful, but they suit different types of investors. The highest possible daily price doesn't automatically make an asset a better investment, because it involves significantly more effort and greater fluctuations.

Our ROI checklist before buying real estate

We discuss these points with investors before every purchase decision. They do not replace legal review, but they do prevent the most common miscalculations.

Object and legal situation

Rental and permit

Rental guarantee and off-plan

Numbers, taxes and exit

Sources and legal bases