Sulaymaniyah says Iraqis can still buy homes after court ruling

SULAYMANIYAH — Iraqis from all governorates can still buy apartments and homes in Sulaymaniyah, the city’s General Directorate of Investment said Thursday, dismissing interpretations of a court ruling that suggested restrictions on ownership.

Property sales and investment would continue unchanged, the directorate said in a statement, stressing that the ruling was not final and did not impose a general ban.

On Wednesday, Sulaymaniyah’s Administrative Court, in ruling No. 57/Q/2026, annulled a June 6, 2016, administrative order by then-Governor Asso Faraidoon that had allowed residents of central and southern Iraq, as well as foreigners, to own houses and apartments in the governorate. The case was brought by Omid Hama Rashid, Banaz Mohammed and Shawana Abdullah, and the ruling prompted debate over whether Iraqis from outside the Kurdistan Region could keep buying property there.

Later Wednesday, the Sulaymaniyah Court of Appeal said the ruling concerned the legal authority under which the 2016 order had been issued, not a general prohibition on ownership. The decision was not final, it said, and Iraqi citizens are equal in rights and obligations under the constitution and the law.

Citing the appeal court, the directorate said Iraqis from other parts of the country were entitled to buy homes and residential units in investment projects without discrimination, rights protected by the constitution, property registration legislation and investment laws.

The directorate also sought to reassure investors and developers, saying the ruling concerned a specific administrative matter, could not be applied broadly to housing sales or investment projects and left existing property rights and financial interests protected.