Buying an apartment in Tashkent in 2026: 10 steps from viewing to cadastre

Buying an apartment in Tashkent takes 10 steps, from the first viewing to your name in the cadastre, Uzbekistan's state property register. Since 1 April 2026 (lex.uz, 23 Sep 2026), you can pay only by bank transfer, through a buyer account. The median asking price is $90,000, and there are 28,842 apartments on the market once duplicates are removed (UyScan data as of 28 September 2026).

How do you buy an apartment in Tashkent, step by step?

Six of the 10 steps come before any money reaches the bank, and that is where a mistake costs least. Steps 7 to 9 are run by the bank, the notary and the cadastre; your part there is to fund the account on time and read the contract carefully.

1. Set a budget from median prices for the district and number of rooms you want.
2. Weed out duplicate listings and listings that show a down payment instead of the price.
3. View the flat and check the area, floor and number of rooms against the listing.
4. Ask the seller for the documents and the cadastral number.
5. Check the flat for mortgages, seizures and bans.
6. Agree on the price, the deal date and who covers which costs.
7. Open a buyer account at a bank and pay the amount into it.
8. Sign the contract at the notary.
9. Wait for the cadastre to record you as the new owner.
10. After the purchase, block any sale or mortgage of the flat through my.gov.uz and keep the papers for a future sale.

Not a citizen of Uzbekistan? Foreigners face extra rules on what they may buy, so read our guide on whether a foreigner can buy an apartment before step 1. The steps below describe the deal itself.

How much does an apartment cost, and what do you pay on top?

The median asking price for an apartment in Tashkent is $90,000: $52,500 for a 1-room flat and $103,999 for a 3-room flat. There are 2,452 apartments listed at $50,000 or less, 9% of the market.

Tashkent listings count rooms, not bedrooms: a 2-room flat usually means a living room and one bedroom, with the kitchen and bathroom not counted.

Data as of 28 Sep 2026, listings: 28,842

Rooms	Listings	Median price	Median per m²	Median area
1 room	3,832	$52,500	$1,458	36 m²
2 rooms	10,363	$76,000	$1,431	55 m²
3 rooms	9,284	$103,999	$1,382	75 m²
4 or more	5,358	$135,000	$1,316	105 m²
Whole city	28,842	$90,000	$1,400	65 m²

Medians for every district are on the apartments by district page, and the apartments up to that price page shows what the budget actually buys.

Add the deal costs on top of the price. The state duty for certifying the contract is paid at the notary's office: ask how much it is and which side pays when you book the appointment. Ask your bank in advance whether it charges for the buyer account. If you work with a realtor, put their fee in writing too: the Law on Realtor Activity comes into force on 8 November 2026 (lex.uz, 23 Sep 2026), and it requires a written or electronic contract with a realtor.

How do you avoid duplicates and down payments posing as prices?

As of 28 September 2026, copies of the same flats make up 35% of sale listings. Owners list 31% of apartments themselves; the rest are sold by agencies, and several agencies often advertise the same flat at once.

Different sellers put different prices on the same flat, so call the one asking less. Where the copies come from is explained in our article on duplicate listings. In UyScan search the copies are already merged into one card showing the lowest price, and apartments listed by their owners have a page of their own.

The second trap: the price field sometimes holds the first instalment of a payment plan, or the price per square metre. Divide the price by the area. Even in Bektemir, the district with the cheapest square metre, the median is $1,000 per m², so a much cheaper metre almost always means a down payment or a typo (Yangihayot district is not yet in our data). Look in the description for "взнос" or "boshlangʻich toʻlov" (down payment) and "рассрочка" or "muddatli toʻlov" (instalment plan), and ask for the full price in writing.

At the viewing, compare the area, floor and number of rooms with the listing. If the seller says the area in the cadastre papers is smaller than the real one, ask where the difference comes from: the contract will use the area in the documents.

What documents should the seller show you?

The cadastre is mentioned in 31% (UyScan data as of 26 Sep 2026, listings: 13,829) of new-build listings and 3% (UyScan data as of 26 Sep 2026, listings: 15,073) of resale listings. A mention does not always mean the papers exist: some listings promise the cadastre "in a couple of months". For resale flats cadastre papers are the norm, so sellers rarely mention them. In a new building, "cadastre ready" means the building has been handed over, the flat is registered and it is sold under an ordinary sale contract at a notary.

Before you hand over any money, ask to see:

• the owner's passport;
• the document that made them the owner: a purchase contract, a deed of gift or an inheritance certificate;
• the cadastre papers with the cadastral number, the flat's unique ID in the state register;
• the spouse's consent, if the flat was bought during a marriage;
• the bank's consent, if the flat is mortgaged.

The notary will give you the full list for your deal. If a flat in a new building has no cadastre yet, you are not buying a finished apartment but a contract with the developer, and the developer is what you need to check first.

How do you check the flat in the cadastre and for bans?

The check runs on the cadastral number from the seller's documents, and it is best done before you pay anything, not at the notary's office. From 1 October 2026 (lex.uz, 27 Sep 2026), an owner can block the sale and mortgaging of their own flat through my.gov.uz, the state services portal, and while such a ban is in place the flat cannot be sold.

Check three things: the seller really is the owner, the flat is neither mortgaged nor seized, and the address and area match the flat you were shown. Where and how to do it is covered step by step in our guide to checking a cadastral number.

Can you negotiate, and by how much?

Since 28 August 2026, the asking price has dropped by at least $500 on 7.5% (UyScan data as of 26 Sep 2026, listings: 28,902) of apartments for sale. The median cut is $3,000 (UyScan data as of 26 Sep 2026, listings: 1,993), or 3.7% (UyScan data as of 26 Sep 2026, listings: 1,993) of the first asking price.

These are price moves in listings, not discounts at signing: the prices deals close at never appear in listings. But they show how far sellers move on their own within a month, and that is a number you can take into the negotiation. Fresh cuts are collected on the price drops page.

Put what you agreed on the price, the date and who pays the duty in writing before you go to the bank.

How does paying through a buyer account work?

Since 1 April 2026, apartments are paid for only by bank transfer, through a buyer account that works much like escrow. The Ministry of Justice registered the regulation on it on 16 March 2026 (gazeta.uz, 23 Sep 2026).

The procedure:

1. The buyer opens an account at a bank (a mobile app will do) or uses an existing one, and pays in the amount.
2. The notary checks through the system that the money is there, and only then certifies the contract. If the money is missing or the account is closed, the notary may refuse.
3. After certification the bank pays the seller itself: the same day, or the next working day if the contract was certified after the working day ended.

This procedure does not apply to investment contracts for housing construction, that is, buying off-plan at the foundation-pit stage. Details and the questions to ask your bank are in our article on paying through a buyer account.

What happens at the notary?

In Uzbekistan an apartment sale contract must be certified by a notary. Since 1 January 2026 (spot.uz, 23 Sep 2026), the notary can identify both parties by Face ID or fingerprints, without asking for a passport.

Before signing, compare the price, area and cadastral number in the contract with the documents you checked. As soon as the contract is certified the money goes to the seller, and fixing a mistake then means going back to the seller.

When does the flat legally become yours?

Title registration currently takes 10–15 days on average (nuz.uz, 27 Sep 2026). You do not have to visit the cadastre: the notary sends the data to the cadastre (norma.uz, 23 Sep 2026) through the Notarius system.

Until the record appears, keep the notarised contract and the bank statement showing the transfer. Once that time has passed, check by the cadastral number that you are listed as the owner.

What changes in 2027, and what should you do after buying?

From 1 January 2027 (lex.uz, 27 Sep 2026), anyone who fails to apply for title registration on time will pay for it at higher rates, and the longer the delay, the higher the fee. Being late will not bring administrative liability, and the resolution does not set the rates. When you buy through a notary, the notary sends the data to the cadastre, so your main job is to check that the record has appeared.

After registration, it is worth blocking any sale or mortgage of the flat yourself: then nobody can sell or mortgage it until you lift the ban. How to do it is in our article on the self-imposed ban through my.gov.uz.

Keep the contract and payment records for a future sale as well. If you have owned the flat for more than 3 years (podrobno.uz, 23 Sep 2026), no income tax is due on the sale; if less, the tax is charged on the difference between the sale and purchase prices, and your contract proves that difference. These are the rules for tax residents of Uzbekistan; if you are not one, check with a tax adviser before you buy.

How we counted

• Prices: medians of asking prices in OLX and uybor listings as of 28 September 2026, excluding duplicates and listings with a wrong price, across 11 districts of Tashkent, Yangihayot excluded. Selection rules are on the methodology page.
• Price cuts: apartments whose current price is at least $500 below their first price in UyScan history; the history starts on 28 August 2026. The median cut leaves out drops of more than a quarter of the first price: those are usually a reworked listing, not a concession.
• Cadastre mentions: the word for cadastre in the listing description, in Russian or Uzbek; matches were spot-checked by hand.
• Legal facts: from sources with check dates, listed at the end of the article.

The UyScan bot sends new apartments for your budget and district every morning, and answers to common questions about the service are on the FAQ page.