Doha: People looking for houses will have more options to choose from in this year. Qatar’s real sector is expected to see addition of more than 15,000 residential units in the current year, according to a report released yesterday by Valustrat- a real estate consultancy firm. Nearly 4,800 residential units (including apartments and villas) were completed during 2021.
“As of the fourth quarter, total completions for 2021 stood at 400 villas and 4,380 apartments, equivalent to 60 percent of preliminary estimates for 2021,” said Qatar Real Estate Market fourth quarter report released by Valustrat. “Forecast for residential units in the pipeline for 2022 have been adjusted upwards to 15,000 units,” it added.
Qatar’s real estate sector managed to maintain growth momentum and attract investors during 2021, despite testing conditions created by COVID-19 pandemic. The real estate sector saw deals worth over QR25bn in 2021 in 5,374 transactions, according to the Ministry of Justice data. The number of real estate transactions was up by 5 percent in 2021 compared to 5,116 transactions 2020.
As many as 480 apartments were handed-over during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021 with the delivery of a tower in Abraj Bay on The Pearl and a residential tower in Lusail.
A major chunk of new supply went to The Pearl Qatar, Lusail and West Bay last year. For 2021, completed apartments were concentrated in The Pearl with 30 percent, Lusail took 25 percent and 15 percent in West Bay. Compounds in Luqta, Al Aziziya, Onaiza and Al Wakrah comprised the majority of the villa completions in 2021.
For Qatar’s real estate sector, the first half of the year was more challenging than the second half as the graph of COVID-19 cases remain elated during the first year. The high vaccination rate brought relief to the market as the cases started declining during the second half of the year.
The average gross yield for residential units increased to 5.8 percent from 5.5 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021, this was driven by growth in yields for apartments.
The fourth quarter 2021 ValuStrat Price Index (VPI) reached 64.8 points, seeing residential capital values approach quarterly stabilisation, but still 3.9 percent lower than the previous year.
The VPI is a valuation-based index with a base of 100 points as of the first quarter (Q1) 2016.
The quarterly report said that the sales during the last quarter of the year fell by 27 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. However, the overall total volume of transactions during the whole of 2021 was 4 percent higher than 2020. The median ticket size for houses was QR2.7m, remaining unchanged compared to the third quarter (Q3) of 2021 and up by 4.7 percent year-on-year. Muaither, Umm Garn and Al Khor had the highest volume of transactions of residential houses during last year.
As many as 212 transactions for residential buildings were recorded during 2021. Old Airport, Umm Ghuwailina and Al Wakra comprised 35 percent of the total volume for the year.
According to the report, the villa sub-market performed better than apartments, with stable prices as compared to the previous quarter.
