The construction market in Turkey is in a significantly healthy state after it was revealed that active construction projects are valued at $350 billion.
Growth in the nation’s construction sector has been sustained but steady, with an overall turnover increase of 4.6% in 2014, while in the same period, overall production climbed by 3%.
The strength of the market at present is further evidenced by the latest report from online projects tracking service MEED Projects, which showed that the value of the major active construction works in Turkey currently stands at just short of $350 billion.
MEED states that the current expansion of the construction market in Turkey can be put down to two things: the country’s rising population and its burgeoning economy.
In 2014, GDP growth stood at 2.9% in the face of the challenges that many of the world’s major economies are coming up against.
Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2015, it increased by another 2.3%, which surpassed the 1.7% forecast of a Wall Street Journal survey.
The country’s population is also on the rise, which is creating an increased demand for housing and infrastructure and also means that the country has more consumers than ever before to spend and earn money.
Since 1960, Turkey’s population has nearly tripled to 75.8 million, with annual growth standing at 1.2% at the end of 2014, even though many developed markets populations are shrinking.
However, population and GDP growth are not the only reasons that developers are attracted to build in Turkey.
Another important reason is the work by the Turkish government to ensure a positive climate for investment, with most construction schemes carried out as public private partnerships, which has allowed contractors to invest on a long term concession basis and cut down their exposure to risk.
MEED Projects Director of Content and Analysis, Ed James, said: “The combination of a large and liberalised projects market along with transparent tendering processes makes Turkey an immensely attractive proposition for contractors, consultants and suppliers alike, who are concerned about a potential slowdown in project activity in the Middle East caused by lower government spending on the back of falling oil revenues.”
