AYİDER/Şişik: Housing Sales Hit Record High in October

Hakan Şişik, President of the Anatolian Side Construction Contractors Association, stated, "Housing sales reached a record in October." In his remarks, Şişik said:

"For the past two months, we have been indicating in our statements that housing sales would exceed the 1.3 million mark by the end of the year. Looking at the housing sales figures for the last ten months, we see that the number of housing sales stands at 1,112,000. With only two months left and considering that more than 130,000 houses are sold each month, it will indeed be possible to comfortably exceed the 1.3 million figure.

As sector representatives, we have been verbally and in writing stating that autumn would be active since the summer months. October turned out to be a month in which we set a record. As you know, expectations for interest rate reductions have been pushed to 2025, and in the face of rising rents, people are turning to real estate as a safe haven, despite high interest rates, although there has been a slight decline in the rates.

This is because everyone knows that with interest rate cuts, housing prices will start to rise again, and even though inflation seems to be stagnant, the installments paid in an inflationary environment in 2025 will still remain low. We observed an example of this in 2020. I would also like to point out that construction activities have gained momentum in Anatolia, and companies that have established their own financing and sales models are successfully carrying out their sales. Indeed, when you look at the figures, there is a 63% increase.

We can also mention that new houses are sold more than second-hand houses. However, the challenging part for us is the construction costs. Especially, labor costs have been rising rapidly, and we continue to face difficulties in finding workers. At this point, we are experiencing challenges in determining costs and housing sales."