JEDDAH, 15 March 2007 — Residents living around the site of Jeddah’s old livestock market yesterday breathed a sigh of relief, not just because the market will no longer be the source of bad smells in the area but also because they will find the value of their properties rise as they become more attractive to buyers.
“Sunday’s move has not yet pushed up land price tags to new highs, but it definitely is going to,” said Ali Abdul Fatah of Bin Duram real estate. He was referring to the day the municipality moved in to clean up the livestock market after the remaining vendors reluctantly moved out.
The local media has reported that local real estate investors believe the relocation of the livestock market will indeed increase the value of residential and commercial properties, not just because the prevalent smell of goats, sheep and cattle is gone (or, more appropriately, slowly abating) but also because traffic in the area will be greatly reduced.
The market has been relocated to Al-Khomrah, about 30 km south of downtown Jeddah. Livestock vendors complain that the faraway location will adversely affect their businesses, and that the cost of renting space in the new market is higher.
But, according to Abdul Fatah, the property owners around the old market on the eastern side of the Makkah-Madinah Expressway will be the winners in the deal. Prices of real estate increased dramatically when the municipality announced last year that the market would be relocated away from the urban zone.
“I receive about 10 inquiries a day about real estate in the area,” he said.
Mohammed Qandel of Al-Mustashar Real Estate said that a 500-sq-meter plot of land near the livestock market was priced around SR300,000 before the announcement was made that the market would be moved. The same land would normally be priced at SR750,000.
An apartment near the market would typically rent for half the price of a comparable flat in another area of the city. Qandel expected prices to increase further, by as much as 25 percent, now that the animals have been moved out and the bulldozers have moved in to raze the old stalls.
“It’s going to take time to clean the place up, but we are very happy about this long-overdue decision,” said Ahmad Al-Hadrami, a resident of the area, who said that property owners have traditionally had a very difficult time finding tenants willing to live with the smell of manure and the snarling traffic around the market.
“For years we have been deprived of opening our windows to let in a breeze of fresh air, the smell made it difficult for us even to host guests in our homes,” he said.
In due time, residents will be able to open their windows without being reminded of the presence of thousands of sheep, goats and cattle that once occupied hundreds of nearby stalls.
