Qatar Real Estate News
Qatar real estate sector summary for 2010 by Century 21
The Century 21 Qatar, the leading real estate agency in Qatar and a member of the top real estate network in the world has outlined a brief summary about the real estate market in Qatar for the current year, based on their study. The details are as follows:
The government support offered by increasing spending and infrastructure projects will be the main pillars for the next boom of Qatar economy.
With the government encouraging private sector to take initiative new projects will be launched in 2010. The 510-meter QNB Tower, the 4-tower Ezdan project, and under-construction sites of Barwa are a clear indication about the market remaining active in 2010, although at a slower pace.
The demand is more focused on mid to low income categories, while real estate firms are eyeing les mature markets where the severity of the financial crisis is comparatively less, such as Egypt and Syria.
As far as Qatar is concerned, the prices of properties and rental rates have fallen by 25 percent in 2009. The last quarter of 2009 saw mixed growth indicators for villa and apartment rates in different sections across Doha due to market vulnerability and confusion and uncertainty among owners.
Although the apartment rentals indicate minimal recovery in October, the decline in the following months indicates market weakness over unjustified recovery. The apartment rentals alone declined by 10 percent in few areas, while it increased slightly in areas such as Bin Mahmoud and Al Sadd, indicating the beginning rates of stabilization in these areas.
The apartment rental rates began at QR3000 per month for 1BR units to QR9500 per month for 4BR units, excluding luxury apartments at localities such as Al Dafnah where rentals are relatively high.
Residential rentals are likely to further decline with increase in supply, as 3000 new units are likely to enter the market during first half of 2010.
The villa rental rates have also fallen in December, and this is likely to continue until mid 2010 by when, the market will begin to stabilize. The villa rates reduced by 11 percent in Al Waab, Rawdat Al Matar and Aziziyah, while Al Dafnah witnessed lower decline.
The sales department of Century 21 Qatar reported significant slowdown during December for leased properties. In the month of December several new properties due for completion were postponed to this year, which resulted in less acute declines, compared to previous months.
The residential sales witnessed a fall in prices between 10 to 15 percent during the last quarter with the new freehold areas recording prices in the range of QR9000 to QR16,000 per sq. m.
The commercial office sector witnessed slight recovery in demand during the last quarter, starting from October with rates continuing to decline at slower pace than the previous months. Rates are expected to continue declining during the first half of 2010 due to large volume of supply hitting the market.
The first half of 2010 will witnessed about 500,000 sq m of office space being delivered into the market, majority of which has been delayed from last half of 2009. The main areas with remarkable office activity are Grand Hamad Street, West Bay and Al Sadd where the demand has been mostly for grade A and B office space.
With the bulk of new supply likely to hit the market, property sector is unlikely to stabilize before second half of 2010. The residential rents are likely to see 15 percent decline by mid 2010.
The Century 21 study report indicates that with the growth in economy above 12 percent limit, a recovery point is likely to be witnessed by the real estate and financial sectors in 2010.
The strong performance of Qatar economy will attract regional investors in 2010. Century 21 Qatar is reported to have already received indications from several regional players stating intention to take advantage of the prevailing low property market prices for long-term investment.
Qatar economy is hoped to be a favourable investment destination, given the positive growth indicators of 2009 in comparison to other regional economies.
On the whole, the performance of property sector in 2010 will define the future of regional economies which may never be the same as before. However, for Qatar, the real estate sector will attain a break-even point much before other regional and international economies.
Posted on 17/1/2010
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