Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 26, 2008 00:00
ISTANBUL - Shopping center investors launched an association yesterday to better represent and promote the interests of the industry.
The Shopping Centers Investors Association, or AYD, currently has 15 founding members but more are expected to join in the future. There are currently more than 200 shopping centers in Turkey, which account for a total investment of nearly $30 billion.
"Our mission is to contribute to the healthy growth of the industry, including standardizing general expenses and terminology, organizing training in shopping center management and create an index to accurately reflect the turnover and visitor numbers to Turkey’s shopping centers," said Hakan Kodal, chief executive officer at Krea Real Estate.
The number of shopping centers in Turkey is expected to reach 350 and a total investment volume of $50 billion in three years. The share of foreign investors is then expected to reach some 20 percent of all assets. The turnover of the organized retail industry grew from $136.9 billion in 2006 to $150 billion in 2007.
"Because shopping centers are medium to long-term investments, which Turkey needs, fluctuations of one year are not particularly important," Kodal noted and added one of Turkey’s strengths was its young demographic structure. At present some 60 percent of Turkey’s 70.5 million population are under 35 years of age.
"Despite the crisis Turkey is still one of the three or four countries in emerging markets that is expected to grow. The demography is our biggest advantage. In the coming ten years Turkey will be the biggest market in Europe," Kodal said.