Posted on 02/19/2003 6:35:35 AM PST by Pern
After the Gulf War, land prices in Iraq were, understandably, low.
Residents packed up and left, both because of the war and Saddam Hussein's crackdown against anti-government rebellions that followed, and there were hundreds of pieces of real estate available dirt cheap.
Some of these properties, bought by speculative citizens, have recently been fetching monstrous prices, relatively speaking. One seller, reports US News, sold a house he bought years ago for 12 million dinars - only $5000, but still 36 times his original purchase price.
The Iraqi stock market is also booming, and private construction is continuing apace.
What gives?
Are people all of a sudden spending like crazy to support Saddam, or are they speculating in anticipation of his ouster?
Years of raids in the no-fly zones have undoubtedly taught Iraq's citizens that private homes are not targets. But why the sudden confidence?
Few people dare to answer these questions, for fear of the secret police, yet the people seem to be enthusiastically optimistic. Perhaps they believe that U.S. and British smart bomb technology is so good that we will get Saddam, and leave everything else untouched?
US News reports that a coffeee shop owner in Baghdad is investing 180 million dinars in a shopping center, after having paid 60 million for the land-use rights scant months ago.
Even along the border with Kuwait, where it is thought that some of the land is poisoned by depleted uranium from weapons used during the Gulf War, "prices have doubled in the last few months," a real estate agent told US News.
The housing market in the holy city of Karbala is as hot as the desert sun as well. Iraqis apparently want to be close to the two Shiite saints - Hussein and Abbas - buried beneath the fantastic gold domes in the town's shrine. Iraqis also want to make money from the Islamic tourists who visit from nearby Iran.
What does all of this economic activity portend, if anything? We certainly don't know, but it's worth keeping an eye on.
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