The rents of warehouses in the country has increased during the second quarter, reflecting growing demand for warehouses helped by rising economic activity.
The average asking rent for dry warehouses during the second quarter of this has risen by 5 percent compared to previous quarter this year, according to a report released by real estate consultancy firm ValuStrat.
The average asking rent for dry warehouses has risen marginally by 1 percent compared to same quarter last year. The average asking rent for dry warehouses was QR43 per sqm as of second quarter of this year.
The average asking rent for temperature-controlled warehouses grew 5 percent during the second quarter compared to first quarter of this year while the rent for the same warehouses increased by 7 percent during the second quarter compared to the same quarter previous year. The average asking rent was ranging between QR40-80 per sqm as of second quarter of this year.
The asking rent for warehouses in Al Wakrah, Birkat Al Awamer and Al Wukair areas was at QR42 per sqm, remaining unchanged compared to the previous quarter and the same period of last year.
Warehouse asking rent in new Industrial Area was in the range of QR50-15 per sqm while it was in QR85-QR20 per sqm in old Industrial Area. The asking rent was in QR35-QR20 per sqm in Umm Salal.
One of the reasons behind the rent is rise in economic activity and import-export, which increases the demand for warehouses in the country.
As per the data of Mwani Qatar, Hamad, Ruwais and Doha Port handled 819,253 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers in the first half of this year which was around 22 percent more than the first half of 2020.
Qatar Free Zones continued to attract local and foreign investments. As of June of this year, 130 companies have been reported to operate in the zones working in sectors such as logistics, technology and services.
The World Bank has forecast Qatar’s economy to grow by 3 percent in 2021 indicating the state is on the path of recovery from economic shock induced by the pandemic on the back of growth in hydrocarbon sector.
During the first two months of second quarter of 2021, export revenue and imports surged by 82.3 percent year-on-year and 6.8 percent year-on-year. The boom to exports has been mainly due to exponential increase in exports to Asia.
