BizCLIR

The overall system of real property, including law, implementing institution, and supporting institutions, has been one of the more successful areas of reform for Armenia in the past ten years. Although deprived of ownership rights for more than 70 years under the Soviet system, the desire for ownership was never extinguished, only suppressed. Property rights were established in the Constitution, then made real early in independence as the new government began moving state property back into private hands. Today, most rural land is privately owned, with more than 2.5 million parcels distributed under temporary title certificates. In urban areas, most apartments have been privatized, but much other land still remains the property of the state. Most of the 44,000 registered real estate transactions in 1999 involved apartments. Current efforts in land reform have shifted to intensify privatization of land in the cities in order to spur economic development. Most real estate transactions involve Foreign-funded efforts to establish a modern registry have been highly successful, resulting in a combined cadastre and registration system under the State Cadastre Committee. All in all, the real property regime is on track.