A generic view of residential buildings at The Pearl Qatar.
The residential sector in the country witnessed a huge boom during the fourth quarter of 2022 mainly due to the mega tournament hosted in November and December. The demand for housing properties spiked last year in addition to the supplements of hotel accommodation, the rents in Qatar witnessed a steady growth during and after the World Cup.
According to a report by a global commercial real estate company, Cushman and Wakefield, “Qatar’s residential real estate experienced unprecedented market dynamics in 2022, due to the hosting of the FIFA World Cup and the substantial but temporary requirement for housing units to accommodate visitors during the months of November and December.”
Apartments across the country witnessed a significant increase of 15 percent to 30 percent for annual rental contracts and have not declined post-World Cup. The report states that the compound villa sector has been taking advantage of the high occupancy rates for several years while the rents skyrocketed by 3 percent to 8 percent during the first three quarters of 2022. It said: “By October, with the accommodation requirements of tourists largely catered for, an increasing number of apartments and villas were made available to residents once again, which saw the upward pressure on rents ease.”
Many villas and apartments in the country have unchanged rents in 2023, even though the rents were expected to decline after the World Cup. Luxurious one-bedroom semi-furnished apartments at The Pearl Qatar were leasing out between QR11,000 ($3,021) and QR12,000 ($3,295), while two-bedroom apartments were being rented between QR14,000 ($3,845) and QR15,500 ($4,257). Rental apartments in Lusail City witnessed a leasing range of QR8,000 ($2,197) to QR10,000 ($2,746) per month.
In its latest report, the realty firm mentioned that there were nearly 35,000 residential units as ‘fan accommodations built-in for the football tournament. The report added that “Many of these units are held on government ‘Eskan’ leases of up to 5 years with rolling break options.”
Along with this, the supply of residential units is anticipated to increase rapidly with newer projects and developments taking place in key cities including Al Wakrah and Lusail in the years ahead.
The report elucidates that the rental prices will come down despite the outrages shown by residents on social media platforms regarding the rising rents.
“Residential rents are expected to start falling in 2023. However, it is likely to be in the second or third quarters of the year before any significant falls from 2022 levels become evident,” it outlined.
As compared to 2021, the number of residential sales transactions fell by 25.5 percent in 2022, recent data from Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) showed. The report highlighted that the PSA’s statistics “Indicate that the pace of residential property sales has slowed since an initial surge in activity following the introduction of Law No.16 of 2018, which saw non-Qataris take advantage of the changes to ownership laws in areas such as Lusail.”
It added: “Q4 figures reflected a 16 percent year-on-year fall. However, an overall increase in transaction value of 16.6 percent indicates that there has been an increase in the number of higher-value residential properties being transacted in recent months.”
