Priorities will take account of population growth, the needs of returning Syrians, land availability, employment, and the capacity of infrastructure and public services.

Syria’s housing stock is estimated at 4.25 million units, with around 1.32 million having suffered varying degrees of damage during the conflict.

The scale of the reconstruction challenge extends well beyond housing. The World Bank estimated in 2025 that rebuilding Syria’s physical assets would cost about USD 216 billion, including USD 75 billion for residential buildings, USD 82 billion for infrastructure, and USD 59 billion for non-residential structures.

The government is seeking private and foreign capital to share the burden. Under one proposed model, the state will make land owned by the General Housing Establishment available, while private investors finance and develop housing and related infrastructure.

The approach is already visible in several major developments. UAE-based Arada is developing New Damascus, a nearly USD 7 billion mixed-use project covering four million square meters.

The development is planned to contain 11,000 homes, more than 500 hotel rooms, a 300-bed hospital, and educational facilities for 5,000 students. The project is being developed with the Syrian Sovereign Fund.

Other projects include Abyat Hills in Qudsaya, with about 2,000 homes, and a 20,000-unit development in al-Bajaa and Sham View, between Qudsaya and Dummar, which includes more than 7,500 homes within a wider mixed-use scheme.

The government is also attempting to revive stalled developments and accelerate delivery of completed units in Damascus Countryside, Homs, Hama, Latakia, Tartous, Aleppo, and Deir Ezzor. It is using geographic information systems and spatial data to assess development sites and align urban expansion with employment, industry, resources, and infrastructure under its “National Regional Planning Framework 2035.”

Housing is becoming increasingly important as Syrians return after years of displacement. The National, citing UNHCR figures, reported that more than 1.7 million Syrians returned to the country between December 2024 and April 2026, while about 1.97 million internally displaced people returned to their areas of residence.

A lack of housing has been identified as a major obstacle to further returns.

Recent shelter assessments also reflect the scale of unmet need.

A 2026 European Union Agency for Asylum report said around one-third of Syria’s housing units, equivalent to about 1.3 million homes, had been destroyed or severely damaged. It also reported that 6.2 million people needed shelter repair assistance.

For developers, the reconstruction drive offers a potentially large market, but the economic environment remains challenging. Syria’s property sector faces high construction costs, inflation, limited housing supply, and property-registration problems. Demand is particularly acute in major cities such as Damascus and Aleppo.

The government’s strategy therefore places housing at the intersection of reconstruction, investment, and economic recovery. Delivering two million units or rehabilitating existing homes by 2035 will require sustained capital, construction capacity, and functioning infrastructure.

It will also test whether banks, developers, and private investors can scale projects quickly enough to match the needs of a population returning to a country whose built environment has been severely damaged while keeping homes accessible to families whose incomes remain under pressure and rebuilding essential public services.

For Syria, the housing target is not simply a real estate programme. It could also influence demand for cement, steel, engineering, construction services, banking finance, and logistics, creating spillover effects across the wider economy.