Trabzon is among the major cities of Turkey and the largest one in the Eastern Black Sea region with a population of 760 thousand, approximately. Generally speaking, it has a rainy climate with a lot of green in the surroundings. Although far from centers such as Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara it is connected to these cities via modern motorways and an international airport.
Trabzon has recently started receiving more visits from abroad and in fact the number of foreign tourists coming to the city each year has reached large figures. On the other hand, it is also noteworthy to mention that property sales to foreigners, is reported to have increased by 60 percent in August 2018 as compared to same month last year.
This apparently shows that Trabzon which is visited by over 2 million tourists annually thanks to its natural and historical beauties, temperate climate, highlands and local flavors, has also started to draw attention of foreigners who would like to buy property in Turkey either to settle or for investment purposes.
When we look at the reasons for this progress we see that the development of tourism in the region in recent years has motivated foreigners to increase their real estate investments in the city. In fact an increase of 25 percent in property sales to foreigners on 8 months average is also observed as stated by officials of the city.
The officials draw attention the most recent amendment in “regulation for purchase of property in Turkey for foreigners and their right to acquire citizenship”, commenting that said right granted by concerned amendment is even a bigger advantage for those wishing to buy property in the country and obtain citizenship, subsequently. Just to refresh our memories the new regulation says “foreigners who buy property worth US$ 250 thousand minimum can apply for Turkish citizenship”.
Trabzon ranks number 7 on “the list of cities with largest number of property sales to foreigners”. Still, the officials do not find this performance good enough and believe they will do better by improving their relations with foreigners who visit the city and showing them the good neighborhood relations in the town, meaning “how comfortable and enjoyable it would be to settle and/or live in Trabzon together with locals who would make good friends”.
At the end of the day we can say Trabzon is certainly one of the attraction spots for foreigners who want to have a closer connection to Turkey and especially those from the Middle East countries and the Gulf.
