Money laundering is sweeping the real estate market and pushing Iraqis into slums

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[size=52]Money laundering is sweeping the real estate market and pushing Iraqis into slums[/size]

[size=45]Samer was unable to get rid of the rents that burdened him, and at the same time he could not buy a residential house in Baghdad, due to the extremely high cost of real estate.[/size]
[size=45]Employee Samer Nabil said, while speaking to Al Mada, “The rents have made me very tired. I cannot live comfortably or in peace, due to the frequent movement from one area to another.”[/size]
[size=45]He adds, “Stability in Baghdad and some governorates is difficult and almost impossible. You cannot buy an apartment or a house in light of the exaggerated prices and the absence of a government role in monitoring them and developing solutions to this terrifying phenomenon.”[/size]
[size=45]Nabil continues, “Many people with limited income went to buy plots of land in slum areas in order to build them, in addition to people who left Iraq abroad because of the cheap real estate there.”[/size]
[size=45]The economic researcher, Omar Ahmed Hussein, said during an interview with (Al-Mada), “The main reason for the rise in real estate prices in Iraq is the trend of people with illegal gains on the property in order to launder their money and rid the property of tax accounting.”[/size]
[size=45]He adds, “The lack of government oversight to control the real estate sector has caused its insane rise, in addition to the lack of tax laws that hold traders and speculators accountable in real estate prices.”[/size]
[size=45]Hussein continues, “The dramatic rise in real estate prices will lead to the collapse of the market in the end, as happened in similar countries.”[/size]
[size=45]The official spokesman for the Ministry of Planning, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, said in an interview with (Al-Mada), that “according to the economic theory of supply and demand, prices increase if the supply decreases, and decrease if the supply increases and demand decreases, and in light of the limited supply of housing units, the process of demand for units increases.” Their prices rose, and this is what Baghdad and other governorates are witnessing.”[/size]
[size=45]He adds, “There is a clear gap in the housing sector due to the lack of housing projects in recent years, and private sector projects have not completely covered the need,” noting that “Baghdad needs about 750,000 to 800,000 housing units.”[/size]
[size=45]He continues, “Work is now underway to implement several residential complexes in various governorates of Iraq, and they will be based on the investment principle, but there is 20% of the government’s share to be distributed to people with limited income and the poor to address the phenomenon of random housing.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi continues, “There is a trend to open new investment horizons in the housing sector by attracting companies that are implementing large residential projects in the country after the appropriate areas are identified.”[/size]
[size=45]He continues, “The Ministry of Planning is working on a strategy to combat poverty for the coming years,” pointing out that “there is space to provide housing for poor families in all governorates.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that “the real estate market in Iraq has witnessed a noticeable increase over the past three years, until prices have reached unusual levels, especially in Baghdad, which is the most expensive among the Iraqi governorates, followed by Karbala, Basra, Anbar, and then Najaf.”[/size]
[size=45]Specialists believe that “the reasons for the rise in real estate prices are due to the safety enjoyed by the cities in which they are built, the presence of capital owners, and the facilitation of investment process procedures. On the other hand, real estate prices decrease when the security, political, and economic conditions deteriorate.”[/size]
[size=45]According to the Central Bank, the process of selling any property whose value exceeds 500 million Iraqi dinars ($378,000) will be conditional on placing the money in banks and giving notice to the Real Estate Registration Department before starting the ownership transfer transaction, indicating that this step will include all real estate sales and purchases during the months. Coming[/size]
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