Saudi Arabian company Alshoula is looking to break into the Middle East real estate construction market through a newly-founded development arm. The firm has set up a £2.7 billion property organisation named Al-Arabia Holding, set to focus on the Middle East and North Africa, according to Reuters.

Based in Dubai, the company will be 80 per cent owned by the family busiess in Riyadh with the rest held by private investors. The first project produced by the new company looks set to be a residential community in Cairo, Egypt.

Alshoula was founded in 1970 with interests in real estate and has recently specialised in projects in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Gulf. In Jeddah, the group is involved in three landmark projects with an accumulated value of more than £7 billion called Jeddah Hills, Jeddah Towers, and the Alshoula Hotel.

Its Cairo project is to feature a modern family development combining Arab heritage with the flair of the Mediterranean.

Quoted by Foreign Affairs.org, Alshoula boss Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz said of the project:

“With the launching of these gigantic multimillion-dollar projects, Alshoula will enter history as one of the pioneers of the 21st-century developers of breathtaking, world-famous architectural icons.”

Kurdistan’s real estate industry is now worth $10 billion and growing, according to politicians. The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq told Gulf News his country’s property development sector was experiencing a property investment boom.

Around 40,000 homes are currently under construction in the region, which is spread through Iraq and Turkey but holds international recognition as a federal autonomy. Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told the site:

“Everything is being invested by Kurdistan and last year we had a new investment group that encourages property investors to invest in our region.”

This week Damac properties announced it was to be involved in a development in the Tarin Hills at Erbil, featuring residential and commercial buildings. Calling the scheme a “unique” property investment opportunity, Damac chairman Hussain Sajwani said:

“We are very confident that Erbil’s unique topography has great potential to become an attractive destination for both high-end and mass tourism.

“We are happy to contribute to the development of a new Kurdistan and believe that this investment will contribute towards the growth phase of the region and a landmark in Iraq’s development.”

The Bank of England ignored the demands of property developers and estate agents and held UK interest rates at five per cent on Thursday. Economists and bankers had widely predicted the Monetary Policy Committee would hold the rate firm in an effort to control inflation.

In April the rate was reduced by 0.25 percentage points to five per cent, and some had hoped for a further cut for June. Liam Bailey of property consultants Knight Frank said:

“Maintaining rates at five per cent is not at all helpful for the UK housing market.

“The market remains under very significant pressure at the moment, year on year sales volumes are down by more than fifty per cent and prices have fallen by seven per cent since the peak in October last year.

“The difficulties experienced by mortgage borrowers accessing finance are likely to continue putting further pressure on prices and volumes.”

He added lower base rates were needed to stave off the chances of house prices falls heading for double figures. Earlier this week the Home Builders Federation called for a rate cut, warning the UK was on the cusp of a serious economic downturn.

On Thursday Halifax reported house prices again fell in May, this time by 2.4 per cent.