Page 18 - TURKRptMar22

2.3 Business and consumer confidence surveys
Protests: Turkish store owners, households and houses of worship (cemevi) belonging to the Alevi religious minority protested against electricity bills across the country after bills doubled in average.
Turkish doctors and healthcare staff went on strike on February 8 due to harsh workload, low salaries and violence. About 5,000 doctors have departed Turkey over the past 10 years.
Turkey has seen more than 60 labour strikes and protests involving at least 13,500 workers in less than two months.
Turkish police are investigating ‘provocative’ social media posts on vegetable oils amid claims of upcoming shortages.
The head of Turkey’s radio and television watchdog said that the regulator is keeping a close eye on what he described as “media coverage of food prices that is misleading and causing panic among the public”.
Realtors are organising auctions in some Istanbul districts, with people placing bids for limited numbers of homes available to rent.
“There is not a house left to lease in Istanbul and that pushes rents higher,” Ahmet Celik from Sinpas REIT told daily Hurriyet.
He noted the rental price of a two-bedroom apartment in one of the company’s developments, in the Atakoy district of the city of 16mn, was TRY3,500 (€225) in January 2021. “Now, its price is TRY9,000. If the supply problem is not resolved, it will climb to TRY 19,000 next year.”
People are not buying homes or commercial properties for putting on the leasing market because rental income stands well below inflation, Celik said.
Under existing regulations, landlords cannot increase rents more than 12-month average consumer price inflation. That officially stands at 26%, whereas official headline CPI was 54% y/y in February.
Hurriyet also reported that Turkey’s home ownership rate has lately declined to 57% from 61%, whereas it is at around 65% in Europe.
Turkey’s PMI declined to 50.4 in February from 50.5 in January.
18 TURKEY Country Report March 2022 www.intellinews.com