Bashir Osman, el Pocero somali: "Mogadiscio es la nueva Manhattan", los precios aumentan un 1000% en

In Somali capital, today's boom is real estate

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Mohamed Nor's phone rings constantly, kept busy by the property hunters who want to own a piece of Mogadishu. Other clients sit on a chaise longue inside his airy office in the battle-scarred Somali capital, waiting patiently for the real estate agent's attention.

"Yes, we have any sort of property," Nor tells one caller. "Come to me today so I can show you some." This seaside city's real estate market has seen an upsurge in demand over the last two years, thanks in large part to security gains made ***owing the ouster of the al-Qaida-linked insurgents of al-Shabab. Although Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia are still a long way from firm stability and suffer the occasional militant attack, property brokers such as Nor now answer the many calls of ordinary Somalis who want to invest their money at home.

The real estate boom started with the arrival of aid agencies that assisted thousands of famine-hit Somalis in 2011. Those foreign aid workers who briefly moved into Mogadishu paid higher rents. More and more houses are now available for sale or rent, in part because landlords appear eager to tap into the influx of new arrivals from the diaspora.

On a recent morning, as Nor sipped strong coffee in his office, two portly men arrived and asked to be shown around. He stepped out with the potential buyers, pointing here and there at newly built houses for sale. When the men settled on a gritty stone house located near the presidential lodge, negotiations with the owner quickly commenced and a deal was sealed within hours: $900,000.

That figure was unthinkable two years ago, Nor said, estimating that such a house would not have fetched more than $80,000 at a time when the city was largely covered in rubble amid fierce fighting between African Union-backed government troops and al-Shabab fighters.

The $900,000 deal illustrated dramatic changes in the property sector of a country where many still live on less than $1 a day. The appearance of growing security may be encouraging speculation, piling pressure on poor Somali families who cannot afford higher rents. Many have been evicted after failing to pay rising monthly rents.

"We were sadly left at the mercy of merciless landlords," said Sahra Hashi, a mother of six who was forced to move out of her long-time residence after her landlord increased the rent. "Life is getting tougher for us." The monthly rent was raised from $450 to $1,500 — a figure that she believes could only be afforded by expatriates such as the one who has since occupied the house.

Sensing the possibility of higher returns, some landlords are subdividing their properties into smaller units to accommodate more tenants. Yusuf Abdiqadir, a father of two who pays $500 for a one-bedroom apartment in Mogadishu, said a lack of many housing options leaves some tenants especially vulnerable to landlords who raise the rent on short notice.

One real estate agent, Liban Hashi, said it is simply "good business" that property prices have more than quadrupled in a couple of years in this hardscrabble city. Both Nor and Liban said they can make up to $10,000 in commissions weekly, about as much as they used to earn yearly when Mogadishu was still in the grip of al-Shabab. The most desirable, and expensive, houses tend be located closer to the sea or the seat of Somalia's government, where security is believed to be tighter, brokers said. Some residential houses have been sold for as much as $3 million, according to Nor.

The brokers owe their success in part to the aura of chaos that still pervades Mogadishu, where it is hard to collect taxes and the economy depends on a thriving informal sector. Properties are not advertised in the media, and real estate agents, who are often middle-aged Somali men, get their information by walking the streets of Mogadishu and seeking out potential sellers. In open restaurants and spots within the sprawling Bakara market, potential buyers meet brokers and consider possible deals.

The informal nature of the property market encourages scams and land disputes, producing dozens of land claimants with title deeds who attend court in Mogadishu each week to settle land disputes. Halimo Sheikh Ahmed, a Somali-American woman who says she is locked in a dispute with a man who claims ownership of her father's land, described Mogadishu's property market as "complicated."

"They get fake documents and claim your land," she said. "There's no way out, except to fight for your rights."

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The sound of bullets that was once so common in the Somali capital of Mogadishu has been replaced by the noise of construction. New buildings and business are emerging from the carnage and lawlessness that pervaded the east African country for more than two decades.

Mursal Mak, a British-Somali property developer, left Somalia in 1987 and returned in 2009. For him, it has never been a better time to do business there. "I have seen a lot of changes from 2011 to now," he says. "Mogadishu is growing very fast. I was at the airport today for an hour and I saw six airlines, all of them commercial. There is also a traffic jam in the streets now; we can drive out late at night."

With so many people from the diaspora coming back, demand for properties and accommodation far exceeds supply, tripling rental prices in the prime areas of the city. "Retail estate is booming in Mogadishu," says Mak. "This evening I had a meeting with a client and he said: 'Mogadishu is becoming like Manhattan or central London; you are talking incredible prices when it comes to property.'

"When I came here in 2009, I leased a property with a value of over $600,000 (£370,000) for $300 a month, but now the property is being rented for $4,500 a month."

Although people are snapping up land and some have grand ambitions to develop, in many cases the land is unregistered or ownership cannot be proven. There have been cases of fraud and land being sold to multiple people. "Either you buy on trust, or from owners you knew before the war. But most people are willing to take a risk and buy on a discounted price of 50% because ownership cannot be proven," Mak says.

Mogadishu businessman Bashir Osman, owner of the Peace hotel, has bought a chunk of land in Jazira beach with the intention of building the first tourist resort in Mogadishu. Osman's hotel was one of the few operating in Somalia during the conflict; it was mostly occupied by people working in the humanitarian sector. To him, the idea of opening a tourist resort isn't so far-fetched; he has experience of hosting thrill-chasing foreigners, some of whom just turned up at the airport with no plans or onward arrangements.

"I picked up my first tourist in 2010," says Osman. "He was a Canadian man and had problems getting a visa. When he told the immigration authority he was a tourist, they told him he was either mad or a spy and tried to put him back on the plane. At that time it was still too dangerous to go outside and sightsee, so he mostly stayed inside the compound, but we made sure he had a good time. Now, when people come to Mogadishu and say they are tourists, the only question they [immigration] ask is how long do you want to stay?

"Last year, we had about 20 tourists. I took them to the old parts of the city, different beaches, Bakara market, historical places, and showed them the life of a Somali family. They were very interested."

Omar Osman is another Somali who chose to come back, after living in the US for more than 20 years. "Like everybody else [who came back], I felt there was an opportunity to make a difference. I grew up in Saudi Arabia. Initially, it was very tough for me here; I came in early 2012, before the new government, so we still could hear guns and shooting at that point, but so far things are good."

Osman and his business partner have set up a commercial bank, First Somali Bank. "We have a bank structure in place, it's operational for people to deposit and withdraw their money but we cannot provide loans and credit," he says. "We are waiting for the government to introduce laws and regulations before we can do that. Our goal is to function as a regular bank and to finance projects."

With funding from their bank, Osman and his partner have started an internet company, Somalia Wireless, to meet the growing demand for connectivity from the private sector. "When we first arrived in Mogadishu, internet penetration was less than 1%," says Osman. "Now we have coverage throughout the city, with the exception of some areas where connection is still patchy, but we are working on that. The hardest part of setting up the company was logistics. We had to ship huge equipment and get in engineers from Germany to set up. In the absence of proper governance, there are pros and cons: anybody can set up a business here but I think eventually the government will introduce regulations.

"We are trying to advocate the setting up of business to be as smooth as possible, because, ultimately, the growth of business will tras*late into job creation and prevent youngsters from being idle and walking into terrorism. Investing and making money is not the goal. The goal is to create jobs, do something to benefit the masses and make life better for every Somali.

"All of us who were in the diaspora are supporting families one way or another here in Somalia. If we can bring some of that support locally and get them to do something for themselves, to earn a proper living, there is nothing better than that."

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Holidays in Somalia? Mogadishu hopes to be tourist hotspot

Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) -- Bashir Osman moves hurriedly along a white sandy beachfront, giving instructions to a driver operating a bulldozer. Near them, a large truck is ferrying away piles of rocks, clearing a sun-soaked beach lapped by the azure blue waters of the Indian Ocean.
Work here is well underway as Osman presses ahead with his new multi-million dollar project: to build a luxury beach resort in Mogadishu, the capital of war-torn Somalia.
"I knew one day that Mogadishu will become peace and we'll get stability," says Osman, who already owns two hotels in the city. "That is why I started to buy that land."
After more than 20 years of violence, Somalia moved a step closer to stability last September after picking its first president elected on home soil in decades.

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