KABUL (SW) – Kabul residents feel house rents have gone skyhigh away from their reach amid tough economic situation in the country.
Rowina, who lives with her husband and only child in a rented house in the 8th district of Kabul city, told Salam Watandar that at the beginning of the Islamic Emirate rule, she used to pay 7,000 afghanis for rent, but now the owner of the house has increased the rent to nine thousand afghanis.
She added: “Wherever you go, the rent of a two-room house is not less than 12,000 afghanis, and the apartments are not so cheap either. I used to pay 7,000 as rent, now I pay 9,000, and the fact that people have come from the provinces and Iran, the house rent has gone up again.”
Nasim Mohseni, a resident of Karte 4 area of Kabul city, said that his landlord has increased the rent from $250 to $360 and he had to evacuate the house. He added: “The prices of houses in this area are too high. Three rooms are 360 dollars. At first, we paid $250 for a four-room with all services, and now the price has gone up and we had to leave.”
Qasim, a resident of the twelfth district of Kabul, who lives in a rented house, wants the Kabul municipality to set a price list for rented houses. He said “During the Republic, we paid 8,000 as rent. When the Emirate was established, it was six thousand and now it has gone up again. We ask the municipality of Kabul to prevent this and put a price on the houses so that people can rent the houses at a suitable rate.”
At the same time, the owners of a number of property companices also confirm the increase in house rents.
Shahab, who works in real estate, said that the return of Afghan immigrants and the migration of provincial residents to Kabul city has caused house rents to increase. He added: “The main reason is that at the beginning of the Islamic Emirate’s rule, all the former employees in the Afghan government left Afghanistan. But after a year, they came back to Afghanistan. They need a rental house and for this reason, the rent of the houses has gone up. The new employees of the Emirate also came to Kabul and the rent of houses in Kabul went up.”
Residents of Kabul want the Kabul municipality to set a price list to control the increase in house rent.
However, Nematullah Barakzai, the cultural advisor of Kabul Municipality, told Salam Watandar that the municipality cannot set a price list for renting houses. He added: “The issue of house rent is a common issue among the people themselves. We cannot have a price list for the issue of renting a house.”
ENDS
