News

• 05 Mar 2010

  Turkey: Real estate ' bouncing back'

  
  

  According to one influential source, the Turkish real-estate market has had a good couple of months, which could be good news for potential property investors.

  Some 116,000 homes were sold during the final quarter of last year in Turkey, reported Ekonomist, an Istanbul-based weekly economy magazine.

  Home sales in the final quarter experienced a 25.2 percent increase compared to same period a year earlier. The sales increase compared to a quarter earlier was 3.9 percent.

  Home sales had declined significantly in the final quarter of 2008. During the period only 93,000 homes were sold. That is part of the reason why the sales increase this year seem so high, said Ekonomist, adding that another reason for the increase is likely interest rate cuts.

  Due to the tax cut implementation, property registration of some homes, which had already been sold, was done in the final quarter of last year, Ekonomist added.

  The total number of homes sold last year was at 532,000, while this figure added up to only 427,000 a year earlier. Therefore, the increase in home sales last year is calculated to be 24.5 percent. The jump in the second quarter of last year played an important role in that in this total increase. The sales reached an extraordinary level during that period, climbing to 195,000 homes.

   
• 26 Feb 2010

  Sterling – Euro exchange rates plummet, where next for the Pound?

  
  

  Recently the Pound has been suffering against most major currencies due to a number of reasons. Mainly the GDP figure for the Q4 of 2009 came in under expectations and despite showing we were out of recession finally, a 0.1% growth was not much to shout about. That started the tumble from a 5-month high we had reached versus the Euro and it’s been a downward spiral since.

  Last week, retail sales for January were the worst since records began in 1993 and coupled with the public borrowing figure showing a massive deficit, where a surplus was widely expected due to the income of self assessment tax payments, was again a massive hindrance to the pound gaining back any of its losses.

  With little exchange rate news out in the UK, and the Euro under pressure with the Greek economic situation we were hoping the pound might recover slightly and in the early part of the week it did just that. That was until Wednesday when Mervyn King , the Bank of England governor spoke to the treasury select committee and hinted that quantitative easing (the printing of money to buy government bonds) could still be used going forward and that economic recovery would be a slow process. Once again the pound lost value.

  On Friday we had the second reading for Q4 of 2009 GDP. There was always the fear that this could be revised down thus showing we were not out of recession but fortunately this wasn’t the case. The figure came out a +0.3%. The increase was however overshadowed by the year on year figure which was downgraded, so yet again the pound has been weakening across the board – down a cent against the Euro and over a cent and a half against the dollar on Friday reaching fresh new 9 month lows!

  What direction for the pound now?

  The short term does not look good if most analysts are to be believed and to be fair the figures speak for themselves. We are in no doubt the UK is extremely fragile economically at the moment and with the prospect of an expansion to the Bank of England asset buying process on the cards, talk of a downgrading of our AAA credit rating status and with a general election on the horizon and polls showing a strong chance of a hung parliament, giving political uncertainty it is likely to be a rocky few months for the pound. This week we have various data releases but the main point for concern will be the Bank of England MPC meeting on Thursday when we will hear if they plan to continue the asset buying program this month.

  How does this affect your currency purchase?

  In real terms if you had bought €150,000 5 weeks ago it would be costing nearly £5000 less than it would right now, which is a huge increase to the cost of any overseas property for no reason other than exchange rate fluctuations which you have no control over. 

  If you have a worst case scenario rate in mind that your budget wont stretch past then again it could be worth considering locking in as although you may gain a cent or two if the pound finds some strength from somewhere, you may also find yourself in the position where the property purchase is not possible anymore if the rates continue to fall.
• 19 Feb 2010

  Bodrum airport see rise of low cost airlines

  
  

  Bodrum Airport officials are in for a busy 2010 as three major low-cost airlines have all targeted the Turkish resort for boosted direct services. Operating from airports across the UK, EasyJet, Monarch and Turkish airline, Pegasus, will all be capitalizing on the Bodrum boom.
  
  With a floundering pound, the eurozone is off-limits for many holidaymakers and overseas home hunters, so Turkey is taking a huge slice of the market with its balmy Mediterranean climate, value-for-money Lira and under four hour flying time. ABTA reported a huge 25% increase in bookings to Turkey made through its members in 2009 and the airlines have been quick to respond.
  
  Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines was the first to pin its colours to the mast adding a substantial 17 new direct flights per week from the UK to Turkey, including services to Bodrum from Manchester and London Stansted. EasyJet has added Liverpool, Bristol and London Stansted to its current London Gatwick service to Bodrum. Although summer only, this service could extend year-round dependent on interest. Meanwhile Monarch is preparing to head east from May with the introduction of new London Luton flights to Bodrum which will operate alongside existing, but increased, services from London Gatwick and Manchester.
  
  
  

COUNTRIES:

• Egypt
• Bulgaria
• Italy
• Brazil