Some two million housing units in Syria have been totally or partially destroyed during the past 32 months and the cost of their reconstruction is estimated to be at least 100 billion U.S. dollars, a private study says.

The study, prepared by Ammar Youssef, a Syrian researcher of real estate economy, said Syria is in an urgent need for three million homes to address its housing crisis.

Youssef said it is a pressing task for the government to start reconstruction in accordance with a systematic road map, which should focus on the destroyed areas and slums.

Youssef explained in an earlier statement that the number of housing units completely destroyed every day reached an average of more than 1,200 in the first four months of this year.

The Jordan-based Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, an international holding company for economic consultations, said recently that the reconstruction of Syria needs no less than 200 billion dollars, raising speculation that the figure might be much higher because of the protraction of the crisis and the destruction.

Reconstruction is one of the pressing issues the Syrian government faces as displaced Syrians complain of the skyrocketing rent of apartments and inability to buy them in safe areas.

Rents in the slum have been driven up to an unimaginable level of about 30,000 Syrian pounds (about 200 dollars), while rents in the capital Damascus soared from nearly 20,000 pounds (some 140 dollars) before the crisis to 80,000 pounds (around 560 dollars) for an apartment and exceeded 100,000 pounds (about 700 dollars) in upscale areas.

Local economists said safe residential areas have witnessed a population densification in an unacceptable way as residents have entirely deserted unsafe areas.

They said the increasing demand for housing in safe areas has been regarded by several property owners as an opportunity to make huge profits by exploiting the need of displaced people for shelter, noting that the rent is being raised every month, if not every week.

Recent estimates by the UN revealed that the number of displaced Syrian has reached 8.7 millions. Endi

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