The 18th seminar of the “Istanbul Urban Studies” seminar series organized by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of Istanbul Medeniyet University moderated by Res. Asst. H. Aysun ÖZKAN YAZAR was held online on Wednesday, 28th September 2021. At the seminar, Nuray ÇOLAK TATLI (Msc.) presented her study titled ” İstanbul Örneğinde Konut Projesi Geliştirme Sürecindeki İşlem Maliyetleri’’ (Transaction Costs in Housing Development Process: The Case of Istanbul).
ÇOLAK TATLI started the presentation by defining ‘transaction cost’, which is one of the basic concepts of new institutional economics. Stating that Turkey has fallen short of solving the problems created by the rapid urbanization process, the researcher claimed that the planned land demand created by the housing needs of the rapidly increasing urban population could not be met. Considering the new dynamics of housing market in Turkey formed after the 2000’s within the scope of diminishing bureaucracy and process acceleration, the researcher evaluated the connections between market conditions, transaction cost, and institutional structures. ÇOLAK TATLI defined transactions costs in land development process as searching costs of planning period and institutional cost based on land ownership and said that only the actors who can tolerate those costs can survive when uncertainty increases. She also added that the number of mediators rises under such circumstances. The researcher analyzed two different housing projects in Istanbul metropolitan area to understand the transaction costs undertaken by the developer, claiming that public officials are in a position to mediate and they generally direct developer companies to others for technical and engineering design. According to the results of the analysis, she emphasized that the plan decisions, ownership structure and relations with the local government have important effects on the transaction costs in the project development process. In addition, she mentioned that although development plans are qualified enough to eliminate uncertainties surrounding the housing area, legislative amendments and economic instability are the main reasons that affect transaction costs.
In the following q/a session, further discussions comparing the similarities of transaction costs in Turkey with global examples were made alongside the effects of having many subcontractors to transaction costs in the housing market.
