By Omar al-Ibadi
Reuters, 08 March 2006
BAGHDAD - Finding peace of mind and security in Baghdad these days comes at a price, and that means that somebody, somewhere is making a profit.
Estate agents say a sharp spike in sectarian violence in recent months has driven property prices higher in more peaceful areas of the capital, while prices are dropping in more violent neighbourhoods.
The old real estate adage "location, location, location" still applies, but rather than the proximity of schools or transport driving the demand for property, as in most of the world's capitals, in Baghdad it's purely down to safety.
Fearful of sectarian reprisals that have killed hundreds, families from the Shi'ite Muslim majority and the Sunni minority are being driven out of mixed neighbourhoods and are seeking refuge in areas where bombs and bullets are less common.
Estate agent Abu Ihsan said demand for homes in the relatively safe district of Mansour, in western Baghdad, had pushed rental prices 50 percent higher over the past year.
Demand to buy houses used to be strong, particularly shortly after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, but as violence has steadily taken its grip on Iraq, few people want to risk buying, insteading looking for short-term rents.
"For example, a small two-bedroom house with a living room and kitchen used to be worth $200 a month only six months ago, but now a house like this is worth $400 a month," Ihsan said.
"DANGER ZONE"
But in Amriya, a Sunni insurgent stronghold where bombs, killings and kidnappings are common -- the bodies of 18 men bound, blindfolded and strangled were found in the district on Tuesday -- the opposite effect is true.
"I urged my sons to look for a new house in another, safer area in Baghdad because it's dangerous here," said Hiyam Ali, a 55-year-old housewife in Amriya. "Many other Shi'ites were threatened and killed and I'm worried about my sons' lives."
Despite the desperation many families feel, not everybody can afford to move to a safer area.
Government employees, for example, make only $125 a month as a minimum wage and many Iraqis live on much less.
Adnan Mahmoud, a 43-year-old estate agent in the calmer Karrada district, where many Christians live, said people who come from Baghdad's more violent areas looking for a home were often shocked to learn the prices.
"We have a 200 square-metre, three-bedroom house with a living room ready to be rented for $1,000 per month," he said leaning back into his armchair.
"If people cannot afford these prices then they can go and live in the danger zone."
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Citation: Omar al-Ibadi. "Baghdad property market sways to Iraq's violence," Reuters, 08 March 2006.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO863827.htm
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