How to Build a Real Estate Agency Website: Concept Site to Portal

The right order for building a real estate agency website is: first decide the site's scope (a concept site showing a selected portfolio, an agency site that manages every listing, or a portal where others list too), then build the listing page around the information your local rules require, and finally connect your contact and inquiry flow. Design comes after those decisions.

A common mistake is choosing a page layout first and thinking about listing rules later. A listing template with no room for, say, a license number or land registry details will need manual fixes on every listing once it goes live.

Which kind of real estate website do you need?

"Building a real estate website" can mean three different jobs, and the legal obligations differ too.

A concept showcase site: A mostly single-page site that presents your agency, your area, your agents and a few featured properties. It suits newly opened agencies and teams selling premium homes or development projects. Your full set of listings stays on the property portals; the site works for trust and contact.

An agency site with listing management: A site where the agency publishes its own portfolio with filterable lists and listing detail pages, and the team adds listings from an admin panel. It suits agencies with a large portfolio that want to depend less on portals.

A listing portal: A platform where other agencies and individuals also post listings. In Turkey, the Real Estate Trade Regulation places separate obligations on this kind of site, covered further below.

Portfolio size and who will keep the listings up to date decide where you start. For the general criteria behind single-page versus multi-page sites, see our article on choosing a single-page concept site or a multi-page corporate website.

When is a concept real estate website enough?

A concept site answers the questions "who is this agency, which area does it work in, and who do I contact?" Buyers often find a listing on a portal and then search for the agency's name. Landing on a tidy, current site that makes contact easy helps them decide to get in touch.

A good concept real estate site includes:

• The areas the agency covers and the property types it specializes in
• Agent cards: photo, area and a direct phone or WhatsApp link
• A few featured properties and a link to all listings on the portals
• A short inquiry form: "Describe what you are looking for and we will send you matching properties"
• The office address, a map and license details

At Piküp, a concept site is delivered in 4 business days if your copy and images are ready, or in 2 weeks if we produce the content and materials. See our concept website page for the general scope and our pricing page for current prices.

If your portfolio is large and you update listings constantly, a concept site will feel tight after a while. At that point you need a structure with listing management from a panel, which falls under custom development.

What must a listing page include in Turkey?

Listing rules depend on the country you operate in. If your agency works in Turkey, Article 12 of the Regulation on Real Estate Trade requires businesses that publish property listings online to comply with subparagraphs (h), (ı), (i) and (j) of Article 14(2), and to keep misleading information out of their listings. This applies to listings on your own website as well.

Under Article 14(2)(i), a listing must show the following in an easily readable way:

• The license (authorization certificate) number
• The business name or trade name on the license
• Province, district, neighborhood, block and parcel number, but not the street address
• The property information listed in Article 15(3) of the regulation
• Contact details
• The property's energy performance certificate details, if any

The information listed in Article 15(3) includes zoning and occupancy permit status, size, age and current use, location features such as floor and orientation, interior features such as the number of rooms and bathrooms, whether the property is in a gated complex or detached, and whether there are restrictions on it such as a mortgage or a lien.

For the website, the meaning is simple: these fields should be designed as required fields in the listing entry panel and shown in a fixed information box on the listing page. Information left to an agent's memory goes missing in a busy week.

When do you have to take a listing down?

Under subparagraph (h) of the same article, when the property is sold or rented, when the sale is called off or when the authorization contract ends, the listing must be taken down within three days of that event. Subparagraph (j) prohibits listing a property you are not authorized to market, and subparagraph (ı) prohibits including information in a listing that contradicts the authorization contract.

In practice this takes two things: being able to change a listing's status (active, under offer, sold) from the panel with one click, and recording the end date of the authorization contract with the listing so you get a warning as it approaches. Rather than deleting the page of a sold property entirely, taking it offline and pointing visitors to similar listings in the same area is also a way of not losing the buyer.

A paragraph added to the article in May 2025 also states that online property listings may not carry price increases that are out of line with general economic data and not based on a justified reason, and that businesses may not act as intermediaries for such listings. Keep this rule in mind when you update listing prices.

What should you know before building a property listing portal in Turkey?

The regulation sets separate obligations for individuals and companies that provide an online platform for listings of properties belonging to others. They include:

• Checking a business's license in the Ministry's system before accepting it as a member, and not accepting businesses without a license
• Verifying the name, surname, national ID number and phone number of individual members, and the trade name and phone number of corporate members, before membership or listing, and keeping these records
• Verifying before publication that the property belongs to the person posting it, or that they are authorized by the owner
• Offering a phone line and at least one online customer service channel for requests and complaints
• Providing listing, complaint and membership information to the Ministry on request

In other words, building a portal is less a website project and more an operation with verification infrastructure and customer service. We recommend getting legal advice before going down this path.

How do you get the site found after launch?

An agency site's strongest search opportunity is searches that include an area name, such as "apartment for sale in Kadıköy" or "real estate agency in Bodrum." To capture them:

• Give every listing its own page with its own address; listings shown in pop-ups on a single page cannot be found individually in search.
• Create a page for each area you work in that genuinely describes it: transport, schools, amenities and the agency's portfolio there.
• Keep your Google Business Profile identical to the address, phone and opening hours on your site. For visibility in local search, see our guide to local SEO.
• Ask only for the information you need in the inquiry form, and link to a privacy notice on how personal data is processed below the form.

Setup checklist

1. Scope: concept showcase, site with listing management, or portal?
2. Listing template: in Turkey, license number, trade name, province, district, neighborhood, block and parcel, Article 15(3) details, contact details and any energy certificate as required fields.
3. Listing status: a routine for taking down sold or expired listings within three days.
4. Contact: direct phone and WhatsApp for agents, a short inquiry form and a privacy notice.
5. Visibility: a separate page per listing, area pages and an up-to-date Business Profile.

The regulatory summary here is general information, not legal advice. If you would like to define the scope of your agency's site together, see our web design service or get in touch.