Iraq Property Boom

I don't mean the exocet missile sort of boom, I mean housing bubble boom. According to a well respected news source in the Middle East, 7days.ae, Iraq is on the verge of a property boom thanks to "short supply," so it seems that if you want to start a housing boom, you need to bomb a few buildings. This is their report:

Iraq on the brink of property boom

Property prices in Baghdad's residential districts have soared in the past year as security has improved, and estate agents say the trend is set to continue, given a serious shortage of homes.

"The price per square metre in the Zayuneh district has risen from $500 in 2005 to more than $1,000 today," said Abu Abbas, owner of Zayuneh estate agency in an upmarket area of Baghdad on the east bank of the Tigris.

"Sellers have become even greedier since the ratification of the security agreement with the US," he said, referring to the pact setting a timetable for US forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

Although property prices are plunging in many other cities across the world amid the global economic crisis, the return of Iraqi refugees to Baghdad could unleash a ballooning of demand.

Several hundred thousand Iraqis are estimated to have fled since 2006 to escape vicious sectarian violence that erupted between members of the majority Shia community and Sunni Arabs in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.

Most in demand are small properties and units of large converted houses, as potential buyers are mainly civil servants or people who work for foreign companies.

Baghdad has around one million homes for its seven million inhabitants - there are no exact figures - mostly individual homes as the city has relatively few apartment blocks.

Bayan Dazai, the housing and construction minister, estimates that Iraq will need 2.5 million new homes by 2015.

"We must build 200,000 homes a year and that can only be done by private investors," the minister said.

Source.

And in case any of you missed the sarcasm here, when I say "well respected news source," what I actually mean is "press release farm that does no research whatsoever and will print anything a developer sends them."

And in case you think I am making fun of the rotten situation most Iraqis must find themselves in, I am not. I have argued against the war since it was first touted and the sooner we leave these people in peace the better. I think it is incredibly bad taste to push the idea of a housing boom in a war zone and the news source is a constant supply of disinformation and press releases written to confuse anyone as to the true nature of the markets - I wouldn't trust a single word they write.