ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil’s already sluggish real estate sector has taken a hit from repeated drone attacks by militia groups on American interests in the Kurdistan Region capital area.
Khursheed Abdul Latif has been investing in Erbil real estate for 12 years. He has built four modern residential complexes and had plans to build 2,000 more apartments, but he put everything on hold because of the drone attacks.
"We were going to start sending projects that we are currently working on to the market for sale, but when we saw these developments approaching, including these [drone] attacks on the Kurdistan Region as whole, and Erbil in particular, we suspended marketing these projects for the time being, because of these drone attacks," Abdul Latif told Rudaw on Saturday.
"These drone attacks have had a massive impact on the real estate sector,” he added.
Angry over Washington’s support for Israel in its war on Hamas in Gaza, Iraqi militia groups have carried out more than 100 rocket and drone attacks on United States targets in Iraq and Syria since mid-October. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed responsibility for the bulk of drone attacks in Erbil.
A military base housing international troops near Erbil’s airport on the northwestern edge of the city and Harir airbase some 50 kilometres to the northeast are frequent targets. On at least one occasion, a residential building was hit.
Erbil’s real estate market was already struggling because of an unstable dinar-dollar exchange rate, political insecurity, and the government’s failure to regularly pay its civil servants. The security risk from drone attacks is another blow.
Sardar Azad runs a real estate office in Erbil. He said the number of customers has significantly dropped and he is now brokering fewer than 10 sales a month.
"The impact is largely on the 32 Park Neighborhood, Dream City, Empire, and Park View residential compounds," Azad said. "I could say the market has come to a standstill. People do not buy, because they think their areas are in danger. Usually, wealthy people are not willing to live in a place where they know their lives will be at stake. Therefore, the real estate market has largely come to a standstill in these areas."
"If you visit 32 Park Neighborhood, you will notice that units are up for sale and we have no customers for them,” he added. "At the same time, a number of real estate offices are closed or they have reduced their branches. Why? Because developments in these past three months have taken a toll on the real estate market."
In the Golden Zone area and 32 Park Neighborhood, located in northwestern Erbil near the airport, prices have dropped by 35 percent in the past three months.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said it holds the federal government responsible for the “cowardly attacks” conducted by government-linked “outlaw” groups.
