ASIF IQBAL

DOHA

THE country’s real estate market is bullish about future growth as it has no other choice than to move in step with the economic and social developments dictated by National Vision 2030, a top official of a realty firm has said.

“Qatar’s booming economy, its growing portfolio of international investments, its ongoing efforts to diversify the economy, and its massive cash reserves underpinned by the National Vision 2030 will drive growth of the real estate market,” Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Coral For Real Estate Development Ziad El-Khalil told Qatar Tribune in an interview on Sunday.

Substantiating his point, Khalil said, “Qatar is positioned to play a leading future role in culture, education, sports and tourism. Its calendar includes such mega events as the Asian Games for 2016, and the FIFA World Cup 2022, which will definitely further boost the realty sector.

Asked about the outlook on supply and demand in Qatar, Khalil said , “The real estate market in Doha is one of the fastest growing in the Middle East and North Africa and demand for residential apartments continues to outpace supply due to the fundamentally superior macroeconomic conditions in the country.” He said earlier there was an oversupply of luxury apartments with the demand for the same being limited.

“Now we see a shift in the trend with both demand and supply being aligned with each other. Demand is showing signs of picking up due to the strong economic environment.

We had also noticed much fluctuation in the rental rates in recent years but now due to the changes in the economic environment within the country and in the region, we hope to see a lot more consistency in rental rates,” he said.

On the sector’s relationship with the banks, Khalil said, “I would describe the relationship between the real estate developers and the banks in Qatar as being symbiotic in nature.

Recent reports are busy predicting the next boom for Qatar’s real estate market and this only proves that it would not have been possible without the support of their trusted partners – the bank.” Asked about his company’s projects in Qatar, Khalil said Qatar Coral enjoyed a strong balance sheet with fully paid-up capital of over QR 220 million. Sixty percent of the cost of Viva Bahriya (VB22) and VB23 has been funded by the group through equity and only 40 percent from borrowings, which is extremely conservative.” On the target audience for the twin towers VB22 and VB23, Khalil said, “We are real estate developers and we are selling our VB-22 and VB-23 apartments to home owners who want to experience the beauty of living on Viva Bahriya.

There is a certain reality about such a stylish life and as such we favour describing our target audience as “Double A” or indeed “AA” meaning; “affluence with affordability”.

On the challenges faced by the real estate in Qatar, Khalil said, “the main challenge we have is the fact that we do not live in Qatar in isolation. We are part of a region that thrives on volatility and economic sentiment.” He said negative economic news anywhere within the GCC tends to affect investor sentiment in Qatar and understandably so.

“But then again, people move on and remind themselves of the historically proven fact that the best time to buy real estate is when sentiment is worst and no one else wants to buy,” Khalil said.