Jordan Real Estate Sector
2008-09 were difficult years for the real estate sector in the region, and Jordan was indirectly one of the countries hit with the global crisis. The total value of property deals in Jordan rose 18 percent in the first six months of 2010 compared to 2009.
Jordan Real Estate Sector
Jordan came through the world financial meltdown of 2009 with a blip in its rate of growth affecting real estate, construction, some exports, and its stock market, but otherwise was little harmed. The real estate market enjoyed a speculative bubble for several years,
Ziad Abu Jaber
, Chairman of Talal Bay
About 15% of our residents in Talal Bay are foreigners and they come for long spans…. Apparently tax in Europe is very heavy, so if they live a certain number of days of the year in Jordan, and Jordan has a reciprocal tax treaty with their country, then they are exempt .
then in 2009 suffered an 18% decline. The decline in prices leveled off in 2010, but awaits greater confidence, and bank willingness to open credit for real estate investments, to begin rising again. Meanwhile, development goes on for several real estate mega projects.
Tala Bay
Tala Bay is a $500 million resort community with a two km. of beach front, a manmade lagoon, beach club, luxury hotels, and villas, which is the result of the vision of King Abdullah II, who felt that Jordan needed resorts on the Red Sea.
Ziad Abu Jaber, Chairman of Abu Jaber Bros. Co., and Jordan Projects for Tourism Development (JPTD), developer of Tala Bay, explains the idea:
“The north part of Aqaba was predominated by hotels, the southern part of Aqaba was pretty much desert. So I felt an opportunity to take battered land and create something out of it, as a challenge in the first degree and as a reward for the Jordanians.
In reality we only have 16 kilometers of useable beach, and unless we do something worthwhile everyone is going to be travelling and spending money abroad to be able to have a good time on the water.”
It is especially attractive to Europeans, too, due to tax advantages, Abu Jaber notes. “About 15% of our residents in Talal Bay are foreigners and they come for long spans…. Apparently tax in Europe is very heavy, so if they live a certain number of days of the year in Jordan, and Jordan has a reciprocal tax treaty with their country, then they are exempt .”
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