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Post by Sapphire Capital on Aug 11, 2009 10:16:44 GMT 4
August 10, 2009
Housing rents in Doha are heading for a crash due to an expected oversupply, Qatari newspaper the Peninsula reported on Monday.
There are already 15,000 apartments ready for leasing but landlords are unable to find tenants, the daily reported, citing Nasser Mohamed al-Mansoory, chief executive of property investment group Qatar Oman Investment Co.
The Peninsula said Qatar’s population has dropped to 1.6 million from 1.9 million due to job losses in the economic downturn.
“These are the latest figures. So, with so many people having left, where do you think the demand is going to come from,” Mansoory was quoted as saying.
Rents for two-bedroom apartments have declined by 38 percent to 5,000 Qatari riyals ($1,373) per month, with Mansoory expecting rents to fall to their pre-property boom levels of an average of 1,200 riyals per month.
The emirate’s building boom began in the run-up to the Asian Games in 2006.
Qatar, which has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, is continuing with billions of dollars of investment in large-scale real estate, tourism and industrial projects, on the back of its huge energy export revenues.
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