Monsi Rabah
As more and more apartments become ready in Lusail and as it continues to grow into a fully operational city, buyers as well as investors are showing growing interest in this area. This has driven up prices over the past year, and they are now at around the same range they were at the start of 2019, which is at their highest. Prices for villas, however, seem to be on a steady plateau, but ended the year with a slight increase.
The “Property Finder”, in its latest report on Qatar’s real estate trend noted that apartments for sale in Lusail continue to attract attention, especially considering the new laws that have been announced for the real estate sector. Prices are on a steady pattern, with slight fluctuations throughout the year, but are at their steadiest in the past three years.
“There has also been an increased interest in the property sales market in Qatar over the past year, especially after more lenient laws and enhanced benefits for ownership have been announced. With more regulations in place and planned for the near future, sales prices for properties have started to stabilise, with a much more realistic pricing strategy in place. This is just one of the many steps that will make the sales market sustainable and viable in the next few years,” said Monsi Rabah, Group Operations Director of Property Finder said.
“I remain very optimistic about Qatar and all that it has in store for the future, not only in the real estate sector but across all industries as it gears up to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup……The real estate sector continues to be among the top performing industries in Qatar, contributing heavily to the country’s gross domestic product. The nationwide real estate price index rose by 1.56 percent (1.99 percent inflation-adjusted) during the year to Q2 2019, in sharp contrast to a y-o-y decline of 16.6 percent in Q2 2018, according to the Qatar Central Bank,” she said.
The Pearl-Qatar still remains on top of buyers’ minds in terms of apartments, more interest has been recorded in Lusail and its many different districts. The surge in handovers of apartments in Lusail has resulted in other areas decreasing their prices as well, in order to keep the attention of hopeful buyers. This includes West Bay.
On rental trends in Lusail, the market analysts said as more and more apartments become ready in Lusail and as it continues to grow into a fully operational city, interest has increased in the area. This has driven up prices over the past year, and they are now at around the same range they were at the start of 2019, which is at their highest. Prices for villas, however, seem to be on a steady plateau, but ended the year with a slight increase.
Apartments for sale in Lusail continue to attract attention, especially considering the new laws that have been announced for the real estate sector. Prices are on a steady pattern, with slight fluctuations throughout the year, but are at their steadiest in the past three years.
A major turning point for the sales market was the law announced last year. It has opened up the sales market to foreigners. In previous years, the most prominent areas for property sales were The Pearl, West Bay and West Bay Lagoon. One of the most important factors of the law is that the areas open for property purchases to foreigners also include central Doha, which offers more villas than the previously mentioned locations. Consequently, this has caused buyer interest to increase in those areas.
On the rental trends in Doha, the analysts noted that despite a fluctuating end to 2018, the first five months of 2019 saw prices display a steady pattern. However, with many changes taking place in the rental market as well as the addition of several new properties, rents have struggled to stabilise. Having said that, projections predict an increase in rents. In terms of villas for rent in Doha, while prices appeared to stabilise from the end of 2018 to the end of 2019, with a slight dip in the summer of 2019, rents continued to drop in the fourth quarter of last year, but still remain higher than the first four months of 2018.
As Doha becomes more of a buyer’s market, price fluctuations are expected to take place, especially in the villa market. The addition of new areas for foreign ownership has revived villa sales as there are more locations included. This could explain the unsteady path prices are currently on. Apartment sale prices have been somewhat steadier and despite a slight increase in Q3 2019, they are now at around the same range as at the start of 2019.
