Stored value in troubled times

The unrest gripping Syria may have created havoc on the economy, but there is one industry that has benefitted from the turmoil — the real estate sector. Within days of the beginning of the protests last March, frantic construction activity began across most of the country’s informal areas. Syrians seized on a relaxation of strict construction rules and a general weakening of state control to rush and build in areas and lands normally out of their reach. The government, facing countrywide protests and with no appetite for causing further discontent by clamping down on small scale developers, kept its eyes closed. One year later, there are up to half a million new housing units that are believed to have been built, leading to a temporary surge in the price of building materials and labor, and a change in the landscape of many suburban and rural areas. Although in the last