Striving for more than 30 years to ensure that concrete compliant with standards is produced in Turkey and accurate concrete applications are carried out in constructions, Turkish Ready Mixed Concrete Association (THBB) elected the new members of Board of Directors and Board of Auditors during the 32nd Ordinary General Assembly carried out on April 6th, 2019. Elected during the General Assembly held at the headquarters of the association located in Kavacık, İstanbul, the new Board of Directors has elected Yavuz Işık as the Chairman again in the distribution of duties.
Assessing the developments in the construction sector in his speech, Yavuz Işık said “Construction sector did not commence 2019 very well. Housing sales throughout Turkey has declined by 21.5% compared to the same month of the previous year. Mortgage housing sales have declined with a greater ratio. In the first 2 months, mortgage housing sales throughout Turkey has declined by 72.7% and became only 15,427. Share of mortgage sales among overall housing sales has regressed to 10%. Considering that the average of this rate in the previous four years was 34% we can easily see how significant impact that the current interest level has.”.
Pointing out that the regression in the construction market becomes more evident in the employment figures, Yavuz Işık said “Employment in the construction sector has regressed to 1.6 million in the recent December report that was released. This figure was more than 2 millions by the end of 2017. An employment loss equaling to nearly 440 thousand per year as total. Employment in construction has declined by 21% compared to the previous year depending on the recession in the construction sector. No such regression at such extent is of question in any other sector. Therefore, we express the need for urgent measures addressing the construction sector in every opportunity and at every platform. Employment in the industry was declined by 0.7% compared to the last year. Unemployment figures throughout the economy have increased by 1 million people compared to the previous year. Unemployment rate in economy was realized as 13.5%. The only method to decrease unemployment in Turkey to the level of 10% is supporting the construction sector.”.
