Pandemic and earthquake changed home preferences

The citizens of Gaziantep, which is one of the provinces hardest hit by the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, started to move away from high-rise buildings and tend towards low-rise buildings.

Speaking on the subject, Bora Kanevetçi, president of the Gaziantep Building Contractors Association, said that the return to single-family, vineyard and village houses, which started with the pandemic, has been accelerated by the earthquake, and that the change in the lifestyle of citizens also affected home sales.

“There are two reasons for this. People feel safer in low-rise buildings. Another is psychological,” Kanevetçi said, “Think you can get out fast in a possible earthquake. Because of this, there has been an increase in the prices of the houses of vineyards, gardens and land. This increase must be avoided in some way, jointly”, he said.

‘EARTHQUAKE AFFECTED THE SECTOR, WE ARE IN THE RECOVERY PROCESS’

Explaining that the earthquake in 11 provinces negatively and profoundly affected the construction sector, Kanavetci stated that Gaziantep’s city center was destroyed more than other provinces.

Kanavetçi stated that there was a housing shortage due to the demolitions and said:

“The earthquake on February 6 demonstrated that; If a building is built in the light of science and science, we will not encounter any problems.

We know; Earthquakes don’t kill, the building does. It has become clear once again that while constructing a building, it is necessary to consider all these, from city planning, rules to be applied in construction, science and science, construction technique to land topography. .

Here, of course, it is necessary to consider the inspection of the terrain. The sector was negatively affected by the earthquake, but little by little we entered the recovery process. A housing shortage has inevitably arisen due to demolitions. Somehow new houses are being built.”

‘BUILDINGS BEFORE 2000 MUST BE CONVERTED’

Kanavetçi affirmed that the old building stock from before the year 2000 should be transformed in some way, and stressed that this should be done without classifying them as damaged or not damaged.

Emphasizing that the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and local governments must make decisions to drive this transformation, Kanevetçi said: “The earthquake showed that; The safety of our people must come first. Our President also announced; 95-96 percent of demolished buildings are buildings for which building permits were obtained before the year 2000. Title deeds acquired before 2000 are subject to the 1975 regulation. Then, in 2001-2002, it was introduced the building inspection system. It was a positive arrangement. Especially before the year 2000, old buildings have to be transformed in some way. You have to do this without calling it damaged or not damaged,” he said.

‘SALES DECREASED 40 PERCENT’

Stating that the independent lifestyle that began with the pandemic process increased with the earthquake disaster, Kanavetçi said, “Our citizens who lived in apartments were afraid to go into their houses. At least, there was the idea that ‘if I have a house with a garden, I can take refuge by setting up a tent’. Because of this, there has been an increase in the prices of vineyard houses, gardens and land.

Kanavetçi said: “This increase must somehow be prevented through cooperation,” continuing as follows:

“Home sales stagnated for a while after the earthquake. This year, the number of transactions carried out on the Gaziantep land title decreased by 40 percent compared to last year and amounted to around 9 thousand. Now it has calmed down a bit more. However, to facilitate access to housing, citizens need credit support. (DHA)