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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Behind the everyday scenes of violence the capital of Iraq lives its most profound real estate revolution since 1960's. The market forces push up the residential rentals, expecting the massive arrival of rich foreign investors after the fall of Saddam's regime. The tenants' market that dominated the city in the last more than 3 decades gradually cedes place to a game, which rules are determined by the landlords. The social tensions that this process will cause, coupled with the open anti-American feelings among part of the population, may produce a dangerous mixture, turning the small resistance groups into broad-based social movement.

For more than 3 decades, the ruling party in Iraq kept the population quiet by interfering in the economy in violation of the market forces. On the residential rental market in Baghdad this meant that the contracts weren't changed for years, that a 3BR, even 4BR apartment in the capital could have been rented for $70-80 a month, that any landlord who dared to increase the rents could just disappear in the Saddam's dungeons. As in every totalitarian state before (e.g. Soviet Union, Germany) the people with private capitals were public enemies or at least were regarded with suspicion. In some cases they were threatened with physical extermination, somewhere they were just ordered to give up their rights over their capitals and follow the political line. Iraq under Saddam more or less went down into this second group.

Laws that regulate the rental market are still in place but it seems that more and more landlords don't bother respecting them. More and more tenants, on the other hand, receive short-term notices stating that their next to nothing rents will be increased by 500-600%. A rent of $75 a month may indeed seem a gift for most foreigners, but take in account that the salaries in the city are also kept at artificially low levels. Usually one full salary goes to cover the monthly rent. In a country with so many unemployed, partly employed and employed on low-wage and insecure jobs such upward move has no domestic market causes. The only real reason is that the landlords are waiting for rich foreign tenants. A few already arrived in the city, and more are expected to follow.

These speculative expectations are very similar to what existed in East Europe 15 years ago. The major difference between the two situations was that in East Europe the homeowners represented large majorities even in many larger cities. Skyrocketing of the rents made empty many buildings in the post-communist countries but didn't cause social crises. In general the population was in demographic stagnation or decline (except in Poland); the extra urban population was redirected toward the rural areas or decided to migrate abroad. In Iraq the population is younger and growing quickly, there are no such readily available options for internal and external migration; the tenants represent significant percentage of the urban population.

It won't be possible for Iraq to pass this difficult period for the tenants without creating strong social system of protection for its poorer classes. Letting the landlords decide freely on the rents' levels will create conditions for additional social tensions that may mix with the anti-American feelings already existing among parts of the local population. The oil exports incomes have to be redirected toward financing this social system of protection. No significant group should be left behind.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Iraq.