AMMAN, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Trading in Jordan's real estate sector declined by 5 percent in 2023 under the shadow of the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.

"Trading in the sector has been fluctuating over the past months of 2023 but since the start of October we have seen a decline in demand," Abdel Hameed Salloum, a salesman at a construction company in east Amman, told Xinhua.

"Usually demand in winter is much less than the summer, but this time the decline is evidently due to the conflict," he added.

Khaled Hashem, a real estate salesman in Shafa Badran area in north Amman, agreed.

"The mood in general is very negative. The sales are down because the customers' appetite for consuming and purchasing is down due to the conflict," he said.

"This is not the first time we have seen such an impact. Whenever there is a war in the region and whenever there are some crises, people tend not to rush on any investment decision and they prefer to wait until everything calms down," Hashem added.

According to Batool Sbeih, an economic news editor at a private media outlet in Amman, customers' appetite is only one of the reasons for the decline.

"Another major factor is the tough economic conditions and the interest rates for getting loans are high, so these two factors have also had an impact," Sbeih added.

Real estate sales in Jordan decreased by 5 percent in 2023, with apartment sales declining by 6 percent and land sales decreasing by 4 percent compared to 2022, according to official figures by the Land and Survey Department.

The overall trading volume in the Jordanian real estate market reached 6.961 billion dinars (9.811 billion U.S. dollars) during the past year, according to the report.

According to the figures, the total revenues in the real estate sector experienced a marginal dip of 0.5 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 257.7 million dinars (363 million U.S. dollars). The sector's value also decreased by 18 percent in December alone.

The eruption of the conflict in the Middle East and the concerns over its prolongation or escalation carry important risks for the region and for Jordan's economy, which is expected to grow by 2.6 percent in 2023 and slightly decline to 2.5 percent in 2024, according to a recent report by the World Bank on Jordan's economy. Enditem

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