Highlighting that current housing supply cannot meet demand, Albayrak Beton Chairman Erdal Albayrak said that an actionable mortgage framework would significantly support the sector. “A practical system with 15–20, even 30-year maturities could make it easier for low- and middle-income households to become homeowners. Rolling out such a model in an accessible way would help address housing needs,” he noted.
Addressing Türkiye’s housing gap and sectoral challenges, Albayrak emphasized that the number of newly built homes falls short of demand, widening the deficit. He pointed out that high construction costs and still-elevated interest rates have dampened new project supply, while this insufficient supply keeps prices high. “To meet housing needs under our country’s conditions and to facilitate homeownership, we must establish a mortgage system,” he said. “Core inputs—cement, steel, energy, and labor—have risen by nearly 300% over the past two years, discouraging contractors from new investments. Meanwhile, high lending rates are limiting access to finance for both developers and buyers. At today’s pace, the market faces an annual shortfall of roughly 700,000 homes.”
“People are putting their money into housing”
“Official data show a shift beginning in the last quarter of 2024: after a prolonged slowdown, sales have started to trend upward. Partial declines in interest rates and volatility in alternative investments are channeling demand back to housing; people are choosing to park their money in property,” Albayrak said. “But the key is to raise homeownership among the low- and middle-income majority. That brings us back to the long-discussed, yet never fully implemented, mortgage system. While today’s practices include long-term loans, what we need is a true 15–20, even 30-year home acquisition model. If introduced in a workable, affordable form, it would materially support households with acute housing needs.”
Albayrak also outlined broader policy priorities: “For our industry to reclaim its role as a locomotive of the economy, we need solutions to the land supply bottleneck, stabilization of construction input costs, incentives that accelerate urban transformation, and access to sustainable sources of finance.”