AMMAN — The government’s recent decisions to stimulate the real estate and housing sector are “good but too short to leave a lasting impact, as they are only effective for the period of two months”, according to stakeholders.

 

Former President of the Jordan Housing Developers Association (JHDA) Zuhair Omari told The Jordan Times over the phone that the real estate sector is “a long-term investment and the decisions should last longer to truly bring change, so it can revive itself from its long recession”.

 

The government on Sunday announced a number of decisions to grant the sector its long-sought demands, the first of which is to reduce registration fees and ownership transfers of apartments and land by 50 per cent until the end of 2019.

 

It will also continue to implement the exemption on inheritance fees until the end of this year.

 

The government decided to grant the sector one of its oldest demands, which seeks registration fee exemption on 150-square-metre apartments.

 

“As everyone knows, we have been demanding this and going out in protests over it for more than four years. It is good that the government has finally heeded our call, despite its delay in doing so,” added Omari.

 

Most stakeholders in the sector, such as member of the Housing Investors Association Kamal Awad, said that the government “should extend the period of these decisions to at least two or three years so that both investors and citizens can benefit from them”.

 

“Most citizens need to acquire loans before buying any piece of real estate, and investors also need to acquire some capital before starting any project. Two months is not enough for either of these things to take place,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

 

The trade volume in the real estate market, according to the JHDA, decreased by 19 per cent during the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period in 2018.

 

The total trade volume in the real estate market was about JD3.183 billion during the first nine months of this year, compared with JD3.79 billion during the same period last year, a decrease of JD600 million.

 

Awad concluded: “This is not a disease that can be cured in two months.”