Arab News, Saturday, Aug 05, 2023 | Muharram 18, 1445
Qatar real estate booms with deals worth $48m recorded in last week of July
Qatar:
Qatar’s real estate sector is witnessing increased business activities with
the volume of total sale contracts signed during the last week of July
reaching 175.52 million Qatari riyals ($48 million), the latest data from the
Real Estate Registration Department at the Ministry of Justice showed.
According to the weekly bulletin issued by the
department for the period from July 23 to July 27, Qatar’s sale deals included
vacant lands, residences, residential buildings, and a commercial-residential
building, indicating increased activities across all the segments.
This comes after Qatar’s real estate sector
recorded 418.731 million riyals worth of real estate contracts for the week
ending July 20.
The majority of sales activities took place in the
cities of Al-Rayyan, Doha, Al-Khor, Al-Thakhira, Al-Daayen, Al-Wakra, Umm Salal,
and Al Shamal, added the report.
Following the FIFA World Cup last year, the Gulf
nation is seeing increased business activities, with the real estate sector
reaping the benefits of it as the government invested over $300 billion to
transform the country’s infrastructure to host the mega event, according to
Knight Frank report titled Destination Qatar.
It noted that the country’s residential sector
benefited the most from the World Cup, with 850,000 new jobs created between
2010 and 2022.
Citing data from Oxford Economics, Knight Frank
report said Qatar’s population swell by 60 percent to an estimated 2.75 million
at the end of 2022 due to an influx of expatriate workers
“This boom in the number of residents has placed
upward pressure on rents, with some districts in Doha registering rent rises of
25-30 percent in the last 12 months,” it said.
It added that the prime residential leasing market
for apartments grew by 22 percent during 2022 to an average of about
12,300 riyals.
Qatar and other Gulf countries are seeing
significant growth in non-oil activities as the region diversifies its economy
away from oil.
In May, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani said his country’s non-oil sector grew by 9.9 percent in
the fourth quarter of 2022, and oil activities also saw a 4.8 percent rise.
Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, Al-Thani
stated that the efforts of the gas-rich Gulf state have led to the development
of robust financial institutions and the establishment of a work environment
that stimulates business growth.
These initiatives have resulted in a considerable
increase in both domestic and foreign investments.