Real Estate Jordan .. Investors migrate and apartments empty

Ayman Fadilat - Amman

"My dream evaporated with an old apartment, my money went in vain, and my family and I were kicked out of my apartment after paying $ 25,000 of their value." This is a summary of the story of al-Fathini Sami al-Faluji, which he narrated to al-Jazeera Net, and it does not depart from her narration to anyone who asks him.

Sami's story is caused by seven thousand stories in Jordan in 2018. The dream of owning a flat would appeal to everyone, but the inability to pay the banks' financial installments leads to the seizure, vacations and sale of the apartments by auction.

The main reason for Sami's story is his inability to pay back, after his housing company closed its doors and transferred its investments to another country.

"The sale of apartments has been weak for the past two years," Samy told Al Jazeera.net, prompting the company's manager to liquidate and transfer its investments to Turkey. "So I lost my job and lost my old apartment."

Weak purchasing power
The weak purchasing power of the Jordanian citizen, and the high rate of interest on bank loans for the purchase of a residential apartment; the most prominent reasons for the decline in demand for apartments, according to the Association of investors in the housing sector.

The chairman of the association Zuhair al-Amri said in his speech to the island Net reasons for the migration of investors in the housing sector of Jordan, and their orientation to other countries, the high prices of plots of land, which doubled fifty times during the past years in some areas.

These include the rise in the prices of construction materials and the 9% interest rate on banks, which has weighed on customers, as well as the regional events surrounding Jordan in Syria and Iraq.

Omri says the housing sector has been in a state of health since 2014. The size of real estate in the sector in 2014 was about $ 11.5 billion, and then dropped to about $ 8 billion in 2018. "The decline is evident to all."

Government stimulus plan
The Jordanian government is called upon to prepare an "incentive plan" for this important sector, especially that this sector provides employment opportunities for tens of thousands of workers and construction companies, and provides the state treasury with millions of dollars.

A few days ago, Jordanian Finance Minister Izzedine Kanakariya announced the decision of the Council of Ministers to extend the full exemption from the registration fee and its related fees for apartments of no more than 150 square meters and the partial exemption of apartments of more than 150 square meters and up to 180 square meters by the end of the year. To enable the Jordanian citizen to own suitable housing, and activate the Jordanian real estate market.

Apartments are empty
The investor in the housing sector, Ghaleb al-Jaafari, told Al-Jazeera Net that there are vacant housing apartments that have not been sold for four years, disrupting the capital cycle and forcing investors either to freeze their work, or Jordan's migration to Turkey and Egypt, and "even to Kazakhstan, , Says the same spokesman.

In order to get out of this impasse, Jaafari and Al-Amri agree that the registration fees for apartments should be reduced from 9% to 5% on a permanent basis, and to amend the building regulations to increase vertical construction and reduce bank interest rates on loans.

The workers share
Finishing companies, construction materials and workers have been affected by the migration and stagnation in the housing sector, which has led workers to seek new jobs that provide them with living income.

Salah Al-Sabarini has been unemployed since last year as a result of the closure of his company.

Al-Sabarini told al-Jazeera Net that the employment movement in housing is declining, and many companies have removed workers.

For his part, the head of the Union of Trade Unions Azzam Al-Samadi of Al-Jazeera Net that the past three years have seen the demobilization of investment and productive companies and services of large numbers of workers, as a result of economic policies of governments, and the lack of stability in tax policies.

He added that the first week of this year saw the dismissal of about 120 workers from a company in the manufacture and production of products of the company Colgate - Palmolive global, which threatens the security of employment of workers.

Tourists in the neighborhoods of the Jordanian capital of Amman watch amazing performances and bright ads to own the old apartment, yet find empty residential buildings ready to hand over the key, but few inventors.