ASIF IQBAL

DOHA

WITH the construction boom in Qatar, the need for measures to maintain the new-found real estate wealth has become more imperative, Minister of Justice HE Hassan bin Abdullah al Ghanim said while speaking at the Qatar Islamic Bank’s international conference on real estate valuation, in Doha, on Tuesday.

“One of the effective ways to maintain the real estate fund is to have realistic methods of valuing real estate, methods that lead to valuations that are neither excessive nor negligent,” Ghanim said.

According to the minister, Qatar has realised the importance to base real estate valuations on appropriate scientific and legal standards.

Advocating the importance of the legal dimension of the real estate valuation industry, Ghanim said, “The large number of real estate valuation operators, inconsistencies in the existing regulations, as well as people operating within the industry who lack the relevant expertise and knowledge of the role, are all harmful to the industry and, by extension, society at large.” Al Ghanim further said that unqualified operators in the industry have a negative impact on finance and investment in real estate, and harms the reputation of the financier in the market.

“It is necessary to regulate the profession of real estate valuation through legislation and administrative regulations that should protect the profession and set the foundations that will fit with the aspirations of specialists, experts and go on to verify the needs of the community, in sympathy with all other professions in society,” Ghanim added.

Stressing the importance of real estate valuation, QIB Chairman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani said, “It emanates from the fact that real estate investments have become one of the key building blocks of any economy, where the interests of both individual and institutional investors can be at stake.”