Page 69 - TURKRptAug20

Turkey’s carmakers produced 103,000 vehicles in June, marking a 5.4% decline on an annual basis​, data from the trading group OSD ​showed​.
Passenger car output inched up 0.3% y/y to 74,000 units in the month while passenger car sales jumped more than 58% y/y to 57,000. Total vehicle sales — passenger cars and commercial vehicles combined — grew 66% on an annual basis to 73,000 units.
The industry’s exports plunged 8.8% y/y to $2bn with passenger car exports declining nearly 11% y/y to $772mn.
In the first half of the year, the auto industry’s output declined by 29% y/y to 518,000 while passenger car production fell 27% y/y to 362,000.
Export revenues amounted to $11bn, a sharp 30% decline from a year earlier and passenger car exports dropped 26% y/y to $4.2bn.
9.1.3​ Transport sector news
9.1.4 ​Construction & Real estate sector news
Turkey’s airports served nearly 37mn passengers in the first half of the year amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a 62% decline from a year earlier, data from the airport authority, DHMI, ​showed.​
The number of domestic passengers declined 56% on an annual basis to 14.6mn while the international traveller tally nosedived 68% y/y to 36.5mn in January-June.
The volume of home loans in Turkey ​reached​ TRY339bn ($49bn) in the first half of 2020​ thanks to the cheap and long-maturity loans local banks have been pumping into the economy for months now.
At the end of 2019, the housing loans volume stood at TRY199bn and between January 1 and January 26, they increased by TRY32.2bn.
Local banks, particularly state-owned lenders, started to provide loans under more affordable conditions to potential homebuyers as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit the Turkish economy. Turkey reported its first coronavirus case in mid-March.
“More people could have taken out loans from banks if home prices had not increased that much amid the outbreak. Racketeers and some property owners inflated home prices, which discouraged potential homebuyers. More homes could have been sold but inflated prices depressed the demand,” said Nizameddin Asa, the head of the Istanbul Realtors’ Association.
Between June 1 and June 26, mortgage-financed home sales stood at 94,000 units, worth TRY17bn, according to Sinan Turkkan, the chairman of developer Artyol Muhendislik.
Sales nearly quadrupled in June compared with the same month of 2019, said Toros Cumhur, the head of real estate company Era Turkey.
He predicted that mortgage-financed home sales may reach at least 100,000 units in 2020.
The latest data from the country’s statistics authority, TUIK, showed that home sales plunged 45% on an annual basis to 51,000 units in May. Mortgage-financed sales, however, showed a 24% year-on-year rise in the
69​ TURKEY Country Report​ August 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com