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The good news:

Gulf Finance House (Bahrain) Unveiled the concept and vision of its latest project - Jordan Gate & Royal Village - the US$1 billion Royal Metropolis in Jordan.

Jordan Gate - the first phase of the Royal Metropolis project - will be a futuristic development comprising two high-rise towers connected by a multi-storey podium. Built on an area of around 28,500 square meters, these buildings will together encompass a built up area of approximately 220,000 square metres.

Jordan Gate will feature executive offices, modern conference facilities, an ultra-luxurious five-star hotel and an array of retail outlets. The development, built at a prime location at 6 Circle in Amman, will occupy the highest point in the city and upon completion will be visible from every part of the capital.

Simultaneous to the development of Jordan Gate, work will start on Royal Village, a principal component of the second phase of the project, known as ‘The Districts’ will also commence soon.

Royal Village will be developed on an area of around 470,000 square meters at a prestigious location in Marj Al-Hammam along the main highway to the Dead Sea and will comprise a gated residential community offering high-class living with modern amenities and the development will include a recreational centre, a retail mall, a hotel and some commercial space.

The bad news (relatively):

According to this news feature - The good times started in mid-2003 and just got better and better in 2004, when property prices in Amman rose by 10% to 30%.

A new, three-bedroom, two-and-a- half-bathroom apartment in a middle-class area of Amman now goes for about JD70,000 to JD80,000, while a four-bedroom apartment will cost about JD100,000. And rental returns, particularly in areas such as Abdoun, Deir Ghbar, Sweifi eh, Rabia and Jabal Amman, which are popular with foreigners, are excellent.

A good three-bedroom, furnished apartment in Abdoun or Deir Ghbar will earn JD10,000 annually, while the same apartment in Rabia will rent for around JD7,000 a year.

The current activity is being driven by a number of factors. The surge in liquidity in the Gulf States, resulting from the rise in oil prices, is encouraging expatriate Jordanians to look for retirement homes and investment opportunities. Gulf nationals, on the other hand, are flush with cash, and Kuwaitis and Bahrainis in particular are buying holiday apartments and are on the lookout for new opportunities as their domestic real-estate markets become more saturated.

Jordan is also enjoying a very positive ‘Iraqi effect’. Estimates of the number of Iraqis now living in Jordan range from 200,000 to over half a million, and over the past 18 months a number of them have bought property in Amman while they wait for the security situation at home to improve. The rest have contributed to the surge in demand for rental property. At the same time, Jordan has emerged as the major gateway for foreign companies, UN agencies and NGOs working in Iraq and this has pushed up demand for rental properties, and encouraged local developers to build both housing and office accommodation. Jordan is even seeing the beginnings of interest from European buyers. Any foreigners can buy a house or a piece of land in Jordan providing they do not sell on for five years and, where permission used to take a month, it can now come through in just 10 days.

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