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Nurettin Eroğlu
Founder & Chairman of the Board, Eroğlu Holding (parent of Colin's), Colin's (Eroğlu Holding)

Nurettin Eroğlu Cityscape emlakdream.com röportaj

🎥 Sep 01, 2014 📺 Emlakdream - Emlak Haberleri ⏱ 8m
Nurettin Eroğlu Cityscape emlakdream.com röportaj.
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Transcript (8 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
We are at the world's largest real estate fair. We have Nurettin Eroğlu, Chairman of Eroğlu Construction. Nurettin Bey, you are showcasing your projects to Middle Eastern investors here. What is the general atmosphere? Please give a brief assessment.
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Nurettin Eroğlu0:38
We have serious demand in this region, especially from the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. There is great interest in Turkey. Actually, we should hold these fairs in Turkey as well. We need to work more as a country. Istanbul is an important city, a central Islamic city with a strategic geographical location. There is huge demand for Istanbul from this region. Our important companies are here. We are participating. There is a lot of interest because we share many similarities, and religion is important. They love Istanbul. Istanbul is a symbol city for them. Our projects are mainly in Istanbul and Bursa. Bursa has Uludağ and green resources. Our most popular project here is a landmark mixed-use project in Istanbul with hotel, residential, office, and mall, located between the two bridges. There is great interest, especially in residential, office, and hotel. Also, our new project in Gürpınar, right by the sea with open sea views, has serious interest. We have completed most of these. Gürpınar and Seyrantepe are ongoing. Seyrantepe is a 145-unit project. We continue like that. We will share three or four new projects with you soon, inshallah.
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Interviewer2:30
How much foreign sales did you make last year? What is your target for next year?
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Nurettin Eroğlu2:36
After March, Turkey had two elections. There was a slowdown in the summer, but foreign interest was high. Especially with the opening of real estate to foreigners, a serious advantage was provided. But now there is a new issue: foreign residence permit problems. We are drawing the government's attention to this. They say they are working on it. If we solve that, there will be even more interest. The residence permit is not enough for foreign home buyers. Our customers say they want to stay permanently, not just come to a hotel. They want to have a second home. So the interest is more than we expected. As a percentage, currently 20% of our sales are to foreigners.
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Interviewer4:09
How do you respond to the industry vs textile debate?
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Nurettin Eroğlu4:13
I think it's like asking which of your two children you love more. You shouldn't discriminate between sectors. If you can do both, you do both. We are present in both. We know the profitability, challenges, ease, and employment contribution of both. They are very different sectors. One is industry. We are very strong in industry, especially in the vital side. Actually, textile itself should be divided into two: production and leather. They seem like one sector but are completely different, almost like black and white. Profitability is important, but I look at sectors without prejudice. Which one can you do better? But the primary goal is profit. You are not a foundation, you are a commercial enterprise. But our primary principle is to do our job right rather than just make a lot of money. So we want to do our job. Both are sectors you cannot give up on. I agree with our minister: no country has developed without industrialization. But real estate should also continue. Both should be done. Real estate is a sector that contributes greatly to our current account deficit and triggers many other sectors. It is one of the top 3-5 representatives in Turkey. We didn't leave textile easily when we moved into real estate. When we entered real estate, we had 9,000 employees; now we have 14,000. We are growing there.
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Interviewer6:14
What is the share of construction and textile in your company? 25% construction, 75% textile? What are your future goals? Do you plan to grow further in real estate?
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Nurettin Eroğlu6:30
Real estate is now a part of the family. We didn't enter this sector to do just a couple of projects. It is now a permanent sector of the group. It is not like textile. In textile, you continuously process cotton that grows in a season. Land does not grow like that. You need to find the right land, build at the right time, promote correctly. It doesn't work like a systematic band system like textile. There can be ups and downs. Periods of large projects and periods of smaller ones. But in textile, you cannot do that. Our factory works 24/7. I cannot reduce from 4,000 to 1,000 employees. There is a discipline. But in real estate, it fluctuates due to land, supply-demand. Even a rumor of negativity makes people hit the brakes first on real estate, then cars, white goods. They don't brake on food and textile because they need to eat and wear. But real estate and cars, people become cautious immediately. So it's a sector that requires more attention. This year is a delivery year for us. We have delivered 2,510 units. Out of 15 projects, we have completed 13. We have ongoing projects. We are working on three more projects. We will talk about them later. We love surprises. Thank you.