Turkish households spent most on housing, rent in 2018

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Housing and rent expenses took up the largest share of Turkish household consumption in 2018 with a rate of nearly 23.7%, Turkey's statistical authority announced on Friday.

Housing and rent expenditures dropped 1 point from 24.7% in 2017, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

The share of expenditures of food and non-alcoholic beverages ranked second with a rate of 20.3% during 2018.

Other big items in Turkish household budgets included transportation (18.3%), restaurants and hotels (6.5%), furniture and appliances (6.5%), various goods and services (4.9%), clothing and footwear (4.8%), alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and tobacco (4%), and communication (3.8%).

Entertainment and culture, educational services and health had the lowest shares with 2.9%, 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively.

The figures show that expenditures for food and beverages, restaurants and hotels, furniture and appliances, goods and services, communication and entertainment items rose in 2018 from 2017.

"The monthly average consumption expenditures was 1,854 Turkish liras ($484.5) in 2017 and 2,181 Turkish liras ($411.5) in 2018," TurkStat said.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.30 as of the end of 2018 and 3.82 by the end of 2017.