Construction industry in Turkey - statistics & facts
The construction sector, one of the largest industries in Turkey, has been shrinking in recent years. In 2022, it registered a negative growth of eight percent. The measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the delays and cancellations in existing projects, and the decreasing demand for real estate caused this sharp contraction in the industry. Even though it has fluctuated over recent years, the construction industry’s added value to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was still significant, totaling 5.6 percent in 2022.
The rapid increase in construction costs, shortage of material supply and workers, and the negative impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have slowed down the construction industry in the past couple of years. However, the sector is still the backbone of the country's economy and development, with its numerous globally acknowledged companies, added value, and employment opportunities.
Construction companies
Turkey has been one of the key players in the global real estate development landscape with its companies’ incontrovertible presence in Europe, Asia, and Africa in addition to their nation. As of 2023, a total of 40 companies from Turkey were placed among the Top 250 International Contractors list based on international contracting revenue reported by ENR (Engineering News Record). The leading company on the list became Renaissance Construction, having reached a revenue of nearly three billion U.S. dollars in 2022. As of that year, 283,440 enterprises were operating in the Turkish construction industry, which was the highest figure recorded to date.Infrastructure
Since a well-established and high-quality infrastructure is essential for efficient production, transport, and trade to support economic growth and societal development, the Turkish government has been working on improving it further. Accordingly, the length of motorways in the country has continuously increased since 2003, reaching over 3.6 million kilometers in 2022. In the upcoming decade, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure plans to expand the new toll motorways by an additional 4,622 kilometers by 2035.Rising costs in the industry
Over the past few years, construction spending in Turkey has mainly increased, reaching a record value of above 1.8 billion Turkish lira in 2022. The rapidly rising inflation affected the cost of materials, supplies, labor, and equipment in the construction industry a great deal. Consequently, construction expenses have witnessed a major increase since 2020, with the cost index rising to about 1,392 points in January 2024 (the base year being 2015).The rapid increase in construction costs, shortage of material supply and workers, and the negative impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have slowed down the construction industry in the past couple of years. However, the sector is still the backbone of the country's economy and development, with its numerous globally acknowledged companies, added value, and employment opportunities.
