The Real Estate sector is one of the vital sectors in Palestine especially because of its role in the economy in raising the individuals’ income and being a main part of the national income, in addition to its role in providing the needed buildings for housing and for economic activities. The official statistics show that the high demand of the apartments has reached to 25 thousand housing unit annually. Also the housing units that need to be rebuilt in Gaza after the last war of 2021 was estimated to reach 140 thousand housing unit. Despite the growing that is happening in the real estate sector in Palestine, the gap between demand and supply is still great, and according to statistics published from Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics there is a clear increasing on real estate with a rate of 10% annually. This in turn increased the real estate prices not only in the main cities, but also in the lands and areas far away from the overpopulation areas.
During COVID pandemic, the real estate sector was affected clearly and the prices was changing during the last year, and this caused trust issues between buyers and sellers because of the many closings that happened and the not so clear economic situation in the world and in Palestine in specific. Thus many owners refused the direct installment and preferred selling through the banks, in addition to the credit facilitates that many banks gave to the different categories of the society during the pandemic.
From this came the need for a specialized programs in valuation and property management in Arab American University in order to meet and fulfill the needs of the real estate market and provide the market with efficient and experienced people in selling, buying, managing and pricing the lands and properties. This program also aims to provide the labor market with experienced and skilled graduates who are able to manage the real estates and organize them and put basics and standards for buying and selling. When the commercial movement, the economic activities and the overpopulation increase, then the demand for shops, apartment buildings and lands will increase as well, and so this program is a main factor in raising investment awareness in the real estate sector in Palestine.
