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Affordable housing tops the agenda in Qatar
The property developers in Qatar are now considering ways to create housing that meets the requirements of middle-income users, where there is clearly a shortage.
The Managing Director (Middle East) of Jones Lang LaSalle, Blair Hagkull, said that there is a good opportunity for affordable housing in Qatar.
Hagkull agreed that this matter has already been discussed by his company with the government and the developers.
Speaking during the occasion of a symposium on global investment held by financial services firm, Amwal, Hagkull said that affordability of land and cost of construction are the two main factors to be considered in this regard. As per the global standards, an individual spends 30 to35 percent of his income on affordable housing.
Hagkull reiterated that the greater the supply, the greater the adjustment in pricing, and hence there is a greater opportunity for affordable housing right now. Any real estate project would take about two to five years for completion, and hence, this would be the ideal time to plan such housing schemes.
Meanwhile another expert has suggested that probably until now, the developers were not much focused on creating affordable housing as the cost of construction was growing enormously by 25 percent on an annual basis.
During the past five years, real estate had more or less turned out to be a short-term trading commodity, he pointed out. Hopefully the global downturn will help in preventing such a scenario in future.
Posted on 18/5/2009
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