Page 48 - TURKRptDec20

lira, the country’s auto imports increased more than 59% y/y to 415,000 units with passenger car imports rising 53% y/y to 350,000.
8.1.3​ Transport sector news
Turkey’s airports ​served​ a total of 71mn passengers in the first 10 months, marking a stark 61% y/y decline.
The number of domestic passengers declined nearly 50% y/y to 43mn while the international traveller tally nosedived 71% y/y to 28mn.
Istanbul Airport​, Turkey’s much touted mega airport which has experienced a turbulent first two years since its opening, saw a sharp 52% y/y decline in overall passenger traffic. Only 9.9mn domestic passengers went through the airport in January-October, representing a 45% decline on an annual basis. The number of international passengers using the airport fell by 63% y/y to 4.4mn.
The figures for ​Antalya airport were not promising in terms of tourism activity. The airport in the resort city, a favourite holiday destination both for local and foreign tourists, welcomed nearly 9mn passengers, down 73% from a year ago. Similarly, the airport in Izmir, on the Aegean coast, another major tourist attraction, saw a 55% y/y drop in overall passenger traffic.
8.1.4 ​Construction & Real estate sector news
Home sales in Turkey declined 16.3 % y/y to 119,574 units in October after declining 6.9% y/y in the previous month, data from the country’s official statistics authority, TUIK, ​showed​.
Property sales started to lose steam after July as local banks stopped pumping cheap loans with long maturities. With the Turkish lira under renewed pressure, the central bank raised its cost of funding for banks.
As a result of the subsequent rising cost of taking out housing loans, mortgage-financed home sales showed a 49.5% y/y decline to 26,000 units, accounting for 21.4% of all sales. In September, the decline in mortgage-financed home sales was 39% y/y.
In the first 10 months of 2020, home sales increased by 34.2% y/y to 1.2mn units while mortgage-financed sales leapt nearly 171% y/y to 509,000 units.
48​ TURKEY Country Report​ December 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com