According to the monthly sectoral confidence survey released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), the confidence index* for the construction sector in Turkey, which stood at 94.9 points in March this year, decreased by 2.4 percent month on month in April, falling to 92.6 points. The confidence index for the Turkish construction sector had been rising since January this year on month-on-month basis, after eight consecutive month-on-month declines recorded in 2012.
According to the indices based on individual questions asked of Turkish construction sector enterprise executives who own private businesses with 10 or more employees, in April this year the confidence index for construction activities recorded in the latest three months, which stood at 91.5 points in March, increased by 7.3 percent to 98.2 points, despite the decline in the general index. Meanwhile, the decrease in the construction confidence index was due to the 4.3 percent month-on-month decline recorded in the April sub-index for total employment expectations over the next three months.
The executives' answers indicated that the index for written orders received in the Turkish construction sector in April increased by 0.8 percent month on month to 68.9 points.
Executives' expectations for sales prices in the next three months decreased by two percent month on month to 114.3 points, though remaining in the optimistic outlook zone.
Meanwhile, players in the sector indicate difficulties due to financial constraints and insufficient demand, according to the research results. In April, construction business executives said they thought their current work was enough to maintain activities in the sector for seven months.
* Sectoral confidence index values range between zero and 200. When the index is above 100 it indicates an optimistic outlook about the current and the future period of the sector, when it is below 100 it points to a pessimistic outlook.