Just when we thought we might start getting a little quieter here, as the normal season starts to come to an end, it’s full steam ahead as September is generally the month when Turkey releases its export and monthly inflation data. This time however, there’s more of an up surge in interest and they will also start to lay the foundations for the economic program of recovery from Covid-19.
Starting with the residential property sector (as that’s the Industry Turkish Connextions are in of course) July was actually a cracking month with over 229,357 units sold, its highest ever tally. It was an increase of 124% on the previous year, and just goes to show that property here is as popular as ever, even with the restrictions!
For the rest of the data, well, as predicted it’s not a pretty sight as, the economy shrunk by around 11% in the second quarter (i.e. April to June) but, with a positive result during the first quarter whereby there was a growth of around 4.5%, it looks like Turkey could actually be one of the leads affected Countries who are currently going through this pandemic.
If we were to look at the bigger picture, the crisis of 2008-2009, caused a shrinkage of 2.3% amongst the 37 mainly wealthier member stats of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), so this current pandemic has far outdone that with a shrinkage of 9.8%.
As with many other countries around the world, Turkey’s annual GDP in 2020 is also due to shrink as it became more difficult to trade internationally during the lockdown, however having said that, once the restrictions were lifted, July saw the highest ever figure received for exports, as they hit over $15bn, rising 11.5% when compared to last year. Industrial production also played it’s part here as this jumped by 17.6% as things started to reopen, including many of the factories that had bee shut at the start.
Compared with it’s other global counterparts, Turkey’s unemployment figures, though they increased to 12.9%, wasn’t actually as bad as first feared, as it appears to be only up 0.1 percentage points from the same time last year. There are plans to bring this figure down again, and get people moving, which in turn will further kick start the economy, and further announcements are expected shortly.
Yes, there is of course a long way to go, but Turkey will come out stronger, and it will be interesting to hear what’s to come, and what the new plan of action looks like… watch this space, we will let you know as soon as we know!
See all our Apartments and Villas we have for sale in Turkey
