It turned out that the recent earthquake with an epicenter in Kahramanmarasa also affected the state's program of co-financing the purchase of housing within the framework of the "My New Home" campaign.
The program that has just begun cancels actions for a number of districts and projects. Recall that the campaign was aimed at making low- and middle-income families homeowners and increasing the construction of new housing. The interest rate of 0.69% per month was announced - for housing loans up to 2 million Turkish lira (TL), 0.79% - for loans from 2 to 4 million TL, and 0.99% - for loans from 4 to 5 million TL.
However, as representatives of the sector explain, while the authorities were collecting and evaluating applications, while preparatory work was being carried out, destructive tremors occurred in February. Which greatly spoiled the overall picture with residential real estate in Turkey. But the first 15 thousand new houses have already been geographically distributed across the provinces.
So, another "earthquake effect" was that it became problematic to purchase the desired housing according to the announced conditions: banks, starting from March 7, also began to reassess projects.
And the applicants for the purchase of housing, who applied for participation in the campaign, began to hesitate: those who previously focused on apartments in high-rise buildings, in the context of what happened, changed their minds and are looking for low-rise housing, which they consider safer. The chairman of the Board of Directors of Babacan Holding, Ibrahim Babacan, says: "Buyers who had no questions about high floors before the earthquake began to doubt them now, and some people cancel applications. This is especially noticeable in areas with a high risk of earthquakes, such as Istanbul Bakyrkey and Avcylar".
The current situation will certainly affect the sales of 100,000 new residences planned as part of the campaign.
Although it has not been totally canceled yet; all parties involved in the process are still reviewing the conditions in the context of the situation. Which was also affected by the decline in the incomes of citizens, especially in the affected regions: now not all those who planned to apply for preferential apartments, in principle, will be able to pay for them in installments. So, the number of beneficiaries in the "My New Home" campaign has also decreased.
Perhaps an alternative option would be the purchase of prefabricated factory houses with state support.