Real Estate Investors Do not Expect Recovery Before 2012

The real estate sector, which contracted with the global financial crisis after six to seven years of reliably constant growth, will begin to recover next year, and the sector will regain its pre-crisis levels by 2012, Real Estate Investing Partners Association (GYODER) President Turgay Tanes said on Tuesday.

Delivering a speech at a press conference to promote the Developing Cities Summit, which will take place Jan. 7-9 in Bursa in cooperation with GYODER and the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, Tanes noted that the sector enjoyed constant growth for six to seven years, and between 2004 and 2007 the sector expanded at a phenomenal rate, with huge levels of investment. However, he added, the sector started to contract in 2008 with the eruption of the global financial crisis, saying that the adverse impact of the crisis on the sector is still continuing.

"The latest association report on sector forecasts that the first signs of recovery in the sector will start to take place in 2010 and that by 2012 the sector will have returned to its 2008 levels," Tanes noted. A prior GYODER report expected the sector to return to pre-crisis levels between 2011 and 2014; however, he explained that the report did not take into account a fall in mortgage interest rates due to the date of its preparation. "Even though the sector will not reach its previous sharp growth rate, still, the real estate market will start to be rejuvenated by that time," Tanes predicted.

The previous investments in the real estate sector were mostly in large cities such as İstanbul and Ankara, but investing in Anatolian cities has remained limited so far, he stated, adding that as GYODER their aim is to ensure that Anatolian cities, which possess great potential, will also get a share of investment in the sector in the coming period of rejuvenation. GYODER will provide investors from Turkey and abroad who want to invest in these cities with necessary information and support, Tanes said, adding that the association will also organize summits in several Anatolian cities, during which local administrations and domestic and international investors will have a chance to discuss investment opportunities there.

Bursa, the first location of these city summits, has great potential in that regard, he remarked, explaining that the population of the city is growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent, with annual revenue of nearly $3,000 per capita. The city also possesses important potential to become a tourism center, along with offering lucrative opportunities in winter sports and as an international transit point. Bursa also has great potential to become a logistics center. Tanes noted that the series of developing cities summits will continue but added that they had not yet determined the next stop.

Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-194987-real-estate-investors-do-not-expect-recovery-before-2012.html