One of the hottest markets in the world is located in a country we hear about most every night on the evening news: Baghdad, Iraq.

In just two years, the market has turned from bust to boom. USA Today reported two years ago a faltering market with stand-still sales and flat prices, conditions ushered in with the escalating violence in the region. Following the latest initiative of the U.S. led surge, security has increased and now the market is in full throttle.

Prices are up 67 percent in the last several months, according to a report from ABCnews.com, meanwhile prices have doubled in some parts of the city. With increased security and the lack of new construction in 5 years, prices are shooting upward for existing properties. Apartments that sold for $20,000 before the war, now start at $70,000.

Subhi Jameel, manager of a government deed office in Baghdad, said that Saddam-era property laws have changed little and that foreigners, with the exception of Palestinians, cannot own property in Iraq, according to the USA Today news article. However, one change in the law has helped push the market upward, and that was the dropping of a limitation on ownership that only residents who were listed in the 1957 census were allowed to purchase property.

Part of the surge in home sales is the flood of Baghdad residents returning home from surrounding countries of refuge. The Los Angeles Times reports "in December alone, an estimated 46,000 Iraqis returned to Baghdad from Syria, and more than 67,000 have come back since mid-September 2007, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization."

"The displaced people are coming back," said real estate agent Mohammed Hassan, who sells homes in Shaab, a lower-middle-class neighborhood in northeast Baghdad. He was quoted in the Times, saying "There is plenty of demand and I have nothing to supply them with."

Published: June 20, 2008

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Mr. Carr is an award-winning real estate broker in Northern Virginia and authored "Real Estate Investing Made Simple: a commonsense approach to building wealth." He also contributed to Donald Trump’s book, "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received," and is an active trainer and coach of top producers in the Washington DC market. As a sought-after expert on real estate, Mr. Carr has been featured on CNN, various broadcast outlets and was the former real estate editor for The Washington Times. He accepts questions at his blog www.RealEstateOlogy.org.