Stating that the cost increase in the last 8 months has been around 400 percent, Temel Construction Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors Fatih Akdağoğlu said, “As housing producers, we have become unable to withstand this increase. Therefore, we make price adjustments for the houses every month. There is a perception that houses are sold at exorbitant prices in Turkey. This is not true. In our industry, there is a profit margin of 25 percent to 30 percent. In order to prevent the increase in housing prices, it is necessary to prevent cost increases. We look forward to taking a step in this regard.”
There is an economic turbulence in Turkey. Construction costs are constantly increasing, it is difficult for people to reach housing. You are a company operating in the construction industry. A social housing move has been launched by the government in recent days. Do you believe this social housing move will damp down the fire of the markets?
I do not believe that the social housing move will take the exorbitant cost increases of our sector and the fire of the markets. The reason for the increase in our costs is not the lack of housing. The reason for the fluctuation and fire in the markets is not the lack of housing supply. Because housing costs are very high, housing supply is low. The measures to be taken here are to prevent this exorbitant increase in housing costs. Here, our contractor friends actually made some demands before the authorized institutions. We had an offer like this: abandonment of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the costs of manufactured houses. Therefore, this would have a positive impact on sales as it would cause a cost reduction of at least 18 percent. We have also expressed this to the most authoritative institutions. But they didn't take kindly to it.
WE WELCOME EVERYONE WITH HALAL EARNING CONSCIOUSNESS TO YOUNG YENİAD
By the way, you are the president of Young A New World Industrialist and Businessmen’s Association (YENİAD). Could you tell us a little about your activities at YENİAD?
Young YENİAD is a very new institution. A new world is built on fair sharing. To train young businessmen fully conscious of Milli Gorus, It operates to bring them together and to inculcate on the principle of fair share of halal earnings. There is a lot of trust in our association. All our young businessmen, who adopt fair sharing and halal earnings as their motto, are also interested in our association, rather than just Milli Görüş young businessmen. Our door is open to them too. Hopefully, we will make Young YENİAD one of the few non-governmental organizations.
Could you tell us a little bit about the conditions of being a member of Young YENIAD?
In order to become a member of Young YENİAD, as I said before, to have a fair share and halal income principle. I invite all young businessmen who earn honestly and earn from halal to become a member of Young YENİAD.
“WE WAITING FOR THE NECESSARY STEPS FROM THE GOVERNMENT”
Apart from this, there are some items that, despite the fact that their raw materials are completely produced in Turkey and processed here, they jump up like dollar leaps under the pretext of dollarization. In this regard, our government requires the authorities to take the necessary steps. Let me give an example: Cement comes out in our country. Concrete is produced here. Despite this, the price increase we have experienced in the last 8 months is 400 percent. We, as housing producers, have become unable to cope with this price increase. Therefore, we make price adjustments every month in housing prices. There is a perception that houses are sold at exorbitant prices in Turkey. This is not true. In our industry, there is a profit margin of 25 percent to 30 percent. In order to prevent the increase in housing prices, it is necessary to prevent cost increases. We are waiting for a step to be taken in this regard.
What is the formula to get rid of this economic turbulence?
The only remedy is the prescriptions of the Milli Görüş. The recipe is to switch to the production economy. This has been done before. Many of the housing manufacturers like us work with financial institutions. This is included in the costs as a profit share and interest. Years ago, this was tried with the State Investment Bank (DESİYAP) model in Turkey. These residences were obtained. It was possible to produce interest-free to the industrialists. This model needs to be developed and implemented in Turkey. In our country, the financial ratio is between 25 and 35 percent. The housing prices of an institution working with finance already include 25 percent and 35 percent finance costs. In the withdrawal of this, you will see that the housing prices are directly below 30 percent. As I said, the DESİYAP model has been tried in the past, it has been very effective and useful. This was done under the chairmanship of Temel Karamollaoğlu. This is also a wealth. This model should be put into effect again as soon as possible.