New Zealand's Atconz Real Estate Development is investing $100 million in a residential project in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq and is planning two more projects there as it looks to tap a shortage of housing.

'Iraq has become the biggest emerging market in the region and will be for the next 20 years,' Dean Michael, the company's chief executive, told Reuters at the Cityscape property exhibition in Dubai.

He said Atconz, a family-run business based in New Zealand but focussed solely on Iraq, is planning to launch residential and commercial projects, both worth $100 million in total, in the same region in the first quarter of next year.

Atconz is the latest international developer to invest in the Kurdish region, a relatively stable area of the oil producer which has seen billions invested over the last three to four years.

The company's first project in Iraq, called New Azadi, is based in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, and is licensed by the regional government.

'We believe in partnership with the government investment authorities in Iraq who have identified the need for 1.5 million new residential units across the country,' Atconz Chief Executive Dean Michael said in a statement earlier on Monday.

'Our current project represents only about 1 percent of that potential but we hope it will encourage more investors to engage in this market.'

Construction is expected to start by the end of the year and to be completed in three years.

Atconz is currently focussing on low-cost accommodation but may move into higher-end housing after five years.

'Today people have limited income. The banks in Iraq are not active in terms of finance or mortgages and the insurance business is not very active ... I am forecasting in the next five years these areas will be more proactive.'

He said the company would look to expand to Basra and Najaf in the south of Iraq if opportunities arose.

Atconz is open to joint venture opportunities and is in initial talks with local banks Trade Bank of Iraq and Kurdistan Bank about future financing, he said. – Reuters