Thanks to peace, two unexpected words are echoing across Afghanistan’s capital: Luxury housing
“It’s a myth that Afghans don’t have money,” Omidullah said. “We have very big businessmen who have big businesses abroad. There are houses here worth millions of dollars.”
NEW DELHI: In a town that has been through it all and is clawing its way back, a man named Omidullah is looking to hit paydirt. The Kabul real estate agent is selling a nine-bedroom, nine-bath, white-and-gold villa in the Afghan capital. On the roof’s gable, glittering Arabic script tempts buyers and brokers with the word “mashallah” — “God has willed it.”
The villa is listed at $450,000, a startling number in a country where more than half of the population relies on humanitarian aid to survive, most Afghans don’t have bank accounts, and mortgages are rare.
Yet the offers are coming in.
“It’s a myth that Afghans don’t have money,” Omidullah said. “We have very big businessmen who have big businesses abroad. There are houses here worth millions of dollars.”
In Kabul, a curious thing is happening to fuel the high-end real estate market. Peace, it seems, is driving up property prices. People who spent years living and working abroad are returning home, keen to take advantage of the country’s much-improved security and stability after decades of war, destruction and infrastructure decay. They include Afghans escaping deportation campaigns in Iran and Pakistan who are taking their cash with them.
Mortgages are rare because banks don’t have the deposits to facilitate lending. Afghans buy in cash or use the “geerawi option” — when someone provides a fixed sum to a landlord in return for living on his property and staying there until the landlord returns the money. People were afraid to invest in Kabul before the Taliban takeover, according to another real estate agent, Ghulam Mohammed Haqdoost. But the country’s rulers have created better conditions for the property market in more ways than one.
The city is less violent since the Taliban transitioned from insurgency to authority and foreign forces withdrew, although armored vehicles, checkpoints and militarized compounds remain common sights.
Mortgages are rare because banks don’t have the deposits to facilitate lending. Afghans buy in cash or use the “geerawi option” — when someone provides a fixed sum to a landlord in return for living on his property and staying there until the landlord returns the money.
People were afraid to invest in Kabul before the Taliban takeover, according to another real estate agent, Ghulam Mohammed Haqdoost. But the country’s rulers have created better conditions for the property market in more ways than one. The city is less violent since the Taliban transitioned from insurgency to authority and foreign forces withdrew, although armored vehicles, checkpoints and militarized compounds remain common sights.
The Taliban, sticklers for an intricate bureaucracy, have pledged to stamp out corruption and regulate legal and commercial matters. That means no more dealing with warlords or bribing local officials for land purchases or construction projects. Haqdoost is happy with how easily and quickly things are getting done under the new administration. “House prices have risen by almost 40%,” he said. “In the last three years, we have sold almost 400 properties. It wasn’t like that before.”
Business is good for Haqdoost, who employs 200 people in administration, including women who deal exclusively with female customers, and then some 1,000 in the construction arm of his company.
He said most customers bring their wives along to viewings. That’s because it’s women who call the shots when it comes to real estate purchases — even in a nation that critics say oppresses and disempowers women. “The power and authority of the house is in the hands of the women,” Haqdoost said. “They decide whether to buy the house or not.”
Omidullah and Haqdoost said their clients want a garden, gym, sauna, swimming pool, guest quarters and at least one kitchen. Hospitality is a major part of Afghan culture and this tradition is built into housing. Afghans typically accommodate and host visiting friends or family in their homes, rather than in hotels or restaurants.
