Property values in the central district of the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala, Iraq
are now comparable to those in downtown Tokyo:
Real estate prices in Iraq’s southern city of Karbala are rocketing.
Recently the price per square meter for a hotel located between two of
the holy shrines that draw so many visitors to Karbala was recorded as
US$3,900...
The expansion of the shrines is going to raise property prices
throughout the city, says local economist Khalid al-Taei. Given the huge
numbers of visitors coming to Karbala every year and the development of
various international business complexes here, al-Taei predicts that
prices per square meter could even go as high as US$4,500...
The agents overseeing the funds dedicated to the shrines of Imam Hussein
and the shrine dedicated to his loyal brother, Abbas, have already
purchased a lot of agricultural land around Karbala and those sites are
supposedly earmarked for the construction of things like tourist
villages, more mosques and other commercial buildings. So far, three
tourist villages are being built and they’re located on the
Karbala-Najaf and the Baghdad – Erbil roads.
Judging from the article, there are two reasons for this. One is the fact that lots of high government officials in Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated government are buying homes in the holy city. The other is the huge boom in pilgrims to Karbala, with estimates ranging from 15-25 million visitors per year. Right now, Karbala is more expensive than Baghdad.
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