Building luxury in Erbil

When in September last year Erbil was hit by a series of terrorist attacks, fears over political instability in the Kurdish capital, among Iraq’s safest regions, might have scared foreign investors away from the city’s booming real estate market. Fortunately this did not happen, and Lebanese investors, accustomed to a little instability in the Middle East, continue to look at the city as a prime location to consider in their investment diversification strategies. “Unlike many areas of Iraq, the Kurdistan region in the north is safe in terms of investments, business and personal security,” says Jacques Jean Sarraf, chief executive officer and chairman of Lebanon’s Malia Group, which is leading a $52 million real estate development project in Erbil’s city center. The Arjaan by Rotana is a mixed-use development due for delivery by the beginning of 2016 and will be the second property to be managed by the group in the