Turkish construction firms feeling confident
Published on 26/02/2015
When it comes to the build and interiors industry, it is often difficult to predict how well the sector will fare in the coming years. Sometimes, the best way to work this out is simply to ask companies how optimistic they are feeling and collate the answers, which is something the Turkish Statistical Institute does every month.
These Sectoral Confidence Indices are invaluable for investors hoping to gauge the general state of the nation's construction industry. The results for February 2015 have been more optimistic than last month's, showing that more of Turkey's building firms expect the future to be more profitable and better for business than before.
So, what can build and interiors firms in Turkey expect over the coming months? The confidence index suggests that, while the future is not entirely bright, the outlook is better than it has been in the months leading up to this.
The data
Turkey's Sectoral Confidence Indices look at three main sectors: construction, retail and services. Each sector is assigned a score out of 200 based on how optimistic businesses in that area are feeling about the future, with anything above 100 indicating a positive outlook. This month, the construction index stood at 84.3.
This indicates an overall negative outlook, especially when compared to the other sectors. The total for services was 101.9, while retail stood at 103.5. However, to look at it this way would be to discount the results for last month, when the construction confidence index read 82.5. This means the sector saw a rise of 1.8 points, or 2.9 per cent.
In comparison, the other sectors are not rising in confidence by nearly as much. Services scored 101.0 in January, meaning February's increase was by just 0.9 points. Meanwhile, confidence in the retail sector fell by 0.8 points, from 104.5 in January.
Order books
So, why is the construction sector feeling more positive this month? In part, it is due to the fact that building firms are seeing better order books than they expected. This has been the case for a while, with more demand causing increased activity in the construction industry.
However, this optimism has slowed down somewhat. In February the optimism index for order books increased by 1.7 points, while in February it has only risen by 0.4. This is still a positive sign, but it is worth remembering that the growth in firms feeling optimistic about this sector seems to be slowing down.
Hiring
On the other hand, employment expectation has shot up this month as many more firms expect to be hiring in the next three months. In total, this index shot up by 4.7 points this month, causing the bulk of the sector's optimism.
This is especially surprising seeing as the index fell last month, dropping by 2.8 points. It is clear that February has seen construction firms in Turkey feel much more confident about the prospect of taking on new staff in the next three months.