Residential apartments...exorbitant prices and a protracted crisis

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[size=52]Residential apartments...exorbitant prices and a protracted crisis[/size]

[size=45]Economic researcher, Nabil Jabbar Al-Tamimi, diagnosed the reasons for the increase in units in residential complexes, attributing it to what he called the “virtual Central Bank initiative.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi said, “Housing unit prices rose sharply after the Central Bank began lending people money to buy units from investment complexes since 2021.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "This type of lending that the Central Bank granted to citizens is called 'directed lending'. It appears to provide facilities to borrowers, but in reality it is providing a service to investors to market their complexes."[/size]
[size=45]He continued, “The Central Bank of Iraq has lent approximately 11 trillion dinars, or approximately (75 thousand loans amounting to 125-150 million dinars), which is approximately the number of newly established units in investment projects,” adding that “the bank has proceeded, knowingly or unknowingly, to market all the residential units established by investors,” noting that “the Central Bank is now working on lending an additional 3 trillion new.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi continued by saying, “The strange thing is that Al-Sudani’s government discussed, at the beginning of its tenure, the possibility of restricting companies or investors with prices, and Al-Sudani himself criticized those prices.”[/size]
[size=45]He concluded, "The government was unable to impose any restrictions on prices and forgot that the Central Bank and its policies are among the contributors to the increase in these prices and the inflation of investors' balances."[/size]
[size=45]For her part, member of the Parliamentary Investment Committee, Suzan Mansour, pointed out that “investors’ focus on residential complex projects is due to their high profits reaching 300%, and despite giving the land for free to the investor and providing him with all the facilities to solve the housing crisis, this crisis has not been solved yet, because the prices do not match the ability of those with average and above-average incomes.”[/size]
[size=45]“There are more than five residential cities under construction, and we hope that these projects will be in safe hands and by serious investors,” Susan added. “Despite the financial abundance and high standards in Iraq, at the same time there are those who are below the poverty line, and there are those who live in an environment that is not suitable for living, so we hope that the prices of these cities will be suitable for them.”[/size]
[size=45]For its part, the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Municipalities pointed out the reasons for the significant increase in real estate prices, while saying that the completion of new residential cities will lead to a gradual decline in real estate prices.[/size]
[size=45]The ministry’s spokesman, Nabil Al-Saffar, said, “The real estate market is subject to supply and demand, and given that the country’s need for housing is high and there is large amounts of capital, this has led to real estate trading, which has led to a very significant increase in prices.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Saffar added, “The effects of the decline in prices will appear after the completion of the construction of the new residential cities that the government has begun, and the injection of thousands of housing units into the market will lead to a gradual decline.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained that “construction building materials are also subject to high demand, especially since the country is witnessing a major urban renaissance,” adding that “the responsibility for setting their prices is outside the scope of the Ministry of Construction.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the capital Baghdad is no longer large enough to build new residential complexes," noting that "there are more than 49 residential investment complexes in Baghdad, between completed and uncompleted, so there are no new places in Baghdad to grant investment licenses to build other complexes."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the new residential cities will be built outside the governorate centers and will be subject to all environmental standards and will provide all basic services, in addition to being an attractive environment for citizens.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The ministry is continuing to build residential cities as the only solution to eliminate the housing crisis in Iraq," indicating that "the existing residential complexes do not meet the ongoing need for housing."[/size]
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