Mosul old city properties rapidly being bought up: residents

MOSUL, Iraq — Locals of Mosul say people from Iraq’s southern provinces are buying up historical houses and property in the war-devastated old city at an alarming rate. They warn this has increased prices of real estate in the area.

“A lot of people have come to buy houses [...] Land prices are higher than before,” Mahmood Jumaa, a resident of the Maidan neighbourhood.

Realtors say they people who are buying these properties are not known to locals and they are seeking out properties with their original deeds, buying dozens of properties at a time.

“Some unknown people come and search for more than 10-20 houses. They even search for one hundred houses at a time,” said realtor Ashraf Jarellah. “If a house is worth 10 million Iraqi dinars, they buy it for 12 million just not to lose it.”

While rumours have surfaced that Shiite groups linked to Iran are behind the mass purchases of property in the predominantly Sunni city, the mayor of Mosul says there is no evidence to support this claim.

“We don’t have any signs proving that a foreign association is buying these houses and lands. All the deals are done within the framework of the law,” Zuhair Muhsin al-Araji, mayor of Mosul.

“They are done according to Iraqi law and there is no legal basis to prevent people from buying property and selling it. There is good economic movement in the reconstruction of Mosul and the trading of property,” he added.

According to the civil defence department of Nineveh province, most of the destruction in Mosul’s old city is in the neighbourhoods of al-Shahwan, al-Maidan, al-Faruq, Bab Lagash and Qle’at.

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed