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Elmas is actually the chairman of developer Sur Yapi, one of the country’s largest construction companies.
He argued that if the annual cost of housing loans was to drop to 12%, home sales might rise significantly.
According to data from the central bank, the annual interest rate on housing loans currently stands at 13.02%. But the rates were around 22% in July.
Banking regulator BDDK reported on October 3 that housing loans increased to Turkish lira (TRY) 186.6bn as of September 27 from TRY185bn a week earlier.
9.1.5 Retail sector news
High inflation means July turnover index gain of Turkish shopping centres was negative. Turkey’s shopping centre turnover index rose by 13.9% on an annual basis in July, data from business group AYD showed.
However, in July, the annual inflation rate stood at 16.65%, thus the real change from a year ago was in negative territory.
The number of visits to the country’s 430-plus malls fell by 2% on an annual basis in the month, AYD said.
“Most potential shoppers were on summer holiday in the month which explains the decline in the number of visits,” it added.
Footwear retailers saw a 22.5% y/y increase in their turnover while consumer electronics stores operating in shopping centres suffered a 4.1% decline on an annual basis. The combined turnover of clothing retailers rose by 18.9% y/y.
Turnover per leasable space (square metres) was TRY1,378 in Istanbul’s malls. The figure was TRY1,060 for shopping centres in other cities.
The head of the United Brands Association recently complained that higher costs and saturation on the domestic market have driven Turkish companies to increasingly focus on expanding abroad.
In 2016, Turkish brands had 2,500 stores abroad, but by June this year the number stood as high in 4,396, spread over 125 countries, said Sinan Oncel.
“Local companies are opening on average two shops a day in foreign markets. By the end of the year, their network will reach some 5,000 shops,” Oncel added.
A report released in July showed that Turkey experienced a steep drop in shopping centre completions, from around 1mn square metres in 2017 to around 0.5mn square metres in 2018, but still maintained top spot across Europe in terms of the total volume of new space added.
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
Turkey's hazelnut exports leapt 75% y/y in September, the first month of the season, according to the vice president of the Black Sea Hazelnut and Products Exporters' Union, as cited by state news service Anadolu Agency on October 7.
The country’s hazelnut industry is recovering from flash floods that devastated hazelnut farms last year. Turkey is the world's largest hazelnut exporter. It earned $1.78bn in the 2017-2018 season from the trade, with nearly 287,000
79 TURKEY Country Report October 2019 www.intellinews.com