Security key in Baghdad real estate
Last year, Fadhel al-Saraf moved his family from its plush two-story, four-bedroom villa in the Amariyah quarter of Baghdad after unknown assailants killed his brother.His house, valued at $476,000 in 2004, remains untouched and on the market. The asking price is down to $200,000. On the other side of town, in Mansour, where prosperous Iraqis, high-ranking government officials and foreign diplomats reside along narrow, palm-lined streets, a similar house that sold for $100,000 in 2003 now fetches $350,000. Full Story