No brakes at Sinpaş

"We are heading in to 2009 as we planned before. We are not putting the brakes on because of the crisis," said Avni Çelik, the president of the Sinpaş GYO’s board of directors.

"Our goal for 2008 was to sell 1,000 residential units. As of November, we have exceeded our goal and sold 2,200 units," said Çelik. "And, as of now, we have sold 2,600 residential units at three of our projects," he said, referring to the company’s current developments: Ottomanors in Bursa, Lagün in the Kartal District of Istanbul and the most talked about development, Bosphorus City, located in the Halkalı District of Istanbul. "We ended up selling approximately YTL 790 million worth of residential units in 2008," said Çelik.

The construction sector has pumped out an average of 600,000 to 650,000 units per year in the last three years, according to Çelik. The number of residences built in 2009 may retreat to levels last seen in 2001, which were in the 250,000 to 300,000 range. "In order to keep up with demand, this country needs roughly 700,000 residences per year. Demand may decrease for a couple of years, but in the long run the sector will continue to grow," Çelik noted.