Erbil, Kurdistan Region – Luxury apartment blocks have mushroomed across Erbil as the Kurdistan Region grows economically, attracting a large foreign clientele. But wealthy Iraqi Kurds are increasingly drawn to this lifestyle, which contrasts sharply with housing traditions where individual houses are favored over apartment living.
“I want my children to grow up in a house like I did,” said Yezda Sajjadi, a wealthy woman in her mid fifties. “The house is a family place, while in the apartment you are surrounded by many others. It is not necessarily bad, but this is not what I am used to." she said, adding that she had to argue with her husband to rent a house in the city rather than a flat in an apartment building.
But younger residents, who like the luxury and convenience offered by new housing complexes such as Naz City, Empire, Dream City or the English- and Italian Village do not see drawbacks to living in a flat inside one of the projects.
"This is how people in the modern world live,” said Nasin Hassan, who moved to Naz City since returning from the United Arab Emirates, where he runs a catering company that he wants to bring to Erbil. “If we want people abroad to take us seriously, we can't live in little houses anymore. This is the 21st century, we have to adapt!” said Hassan, 32.
Layila, a 26-year-old who struck gold when she got a job in sales for a large foreign company, looks forward to when she can afford to move into one of these complexes, preferably the Italian Village.
“My fiancée and I are thinking of getting our place there. We are the new generation here, and to us this is a break from the past. We do not want the lives of our parents. What we want for our country is to develop and be at peace," she expained.
While luxury apartment complexes are in great demand and businesses rush to profit from the trend, getting the permit to build one has become something of a bureaucratic nightmare.
