This is news; it’s hard to sell a house in a warzone
I guess it’s hard to find bad news about the war in Iraq, but that doesn’t stop the hardworking reporters at the Washington Post from finding it. Reporters like Megan Greenwell;
With hundreds of thousands of Baghdad residents having fled their homes for the relative safety of segregated neighborhoods or foreign countries, a clandestine system of buying and selling property off the books has supplanted more traditional real estate practices. If families being pushed out are lucky, they are able to sell their homes for some small price, as Ismael did. Wait too long, and their houses might be seized at gunpoint.
Real estate agent Mahir al-Sultani said business has all but dried up — ironic, he admits, considering how many people are moving in and out. Without exception, half a dozen real estate agents said that houses are still being bought and sold, but that licensed agents have been largely cut out of the equation.
Even APFÂ and has to admit that things are getting better in Iraq;
“Attacks nationwide have fallen to the lowest level since before the Golden Mosque bombing,” he said, referring to a bombing which destroyed the revered shrine in Samarra and unleashed a relentless wave of reprisals and counter-reprisals across Iraq that has already killed thousands of Iraqis.
“Car bombs and suicide attacks have dropped to their lowest level in a year,” Odierno said. “Attacks in Baghdad have reached the lowest level this year and the trend continues to be down.”
Civilian casualties had dropped from a high of about 32 per day to 12 per day, the US commander said.
“Al-Qaeda in Iraq is increasingly being pushed out of Baghdad and the surrounding areas,” he said. “We are starting to see a normalisation of life across Iraq and also in Baghdad.”
But Megan and the Washington Post are having a hard time coming to grips with reality;
…as the war dragged on and insurgent groups gained power, property values began a free fall that real estate agents say has not yet hit bottom. The wealthy families who had returned to fancy homes in Baghdad left again for the stability of Jordan or Syria, in many cases leaving their houses empty. Lower- and middle-class people, desperate to afford the high cost of emigrating, rushed to sell their homes for any price.
Maybe Hillary and John Edwards can come up with a way to install price supports in Iraq’s housing market – that’ll keep al Qaeda away and make us safer.
Category: Media, Terror War
