Gaza crisis exacerbates housing market decline

AMMAN — The local housing market has seen a drop by 7 per cent in October, according to stakeholders.

“The pace of sales usually slows down during October and November, however, the current situation in Gaza has exacerbated the decline,” former president of the Jordan Housing Developers Association (JHDA), Kamal Awamleh told The Jordan Times.

The usual decline in October is between 4 to 5 per cent, then in December sales of residential units slightly improve, Awamleh said. This is because sector representatives offer buyer incentives to start off the new year with extra cash or avoid losses.

The exact number of apartments sold during September and October cannot currently be determined as the Department of Land and Survey did not publish its monthly report on residential real estate sales across the Kingdom.

“Not having this report means that stakeholders and buyers do not know market trends,” Awamleh said.

Typically, the majority of apartment sales are in Zarqa and King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz City, Awamleh noted.

According to the most recent data from the Department of Land and Survey, trade volume in the local real estate market during the first three quarters of 2023, reached JD5.267 billion. Meanwhile, the sector’s trading volume during September this year amounted JD608 million.

“No more than 3,000 apartments have been sold this month... this is an estimation only because we have still not received the official numbers,” Housing Expert Mahmoud Salah said.

The majority of non-Jordanian developers and investors are Saudi, Kuwaiti and Iraqi, he said.

“Right now, housing market activity has decreased... but we expect sales to grow slightly next month,” Salah concluded.