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Asif Iqbal
Doha
The rise in inflow of expatriates into Qatar in the coming years will drive future demand for residential properties in the country, a top official of a leading real estate consultancy firm has said.
"It is anticipated that the majority of the population increase in the coming years will be contributed by expatriates in the service industry, driving demand for affordable residential property," Mark Proudley, Director for DTZ said.
He made the remarks while releasing DTZ's latest realty market report for the first quarter, at the ongoing Cityscape Qatar expo in Doha.
According to the report, Ezdan Oasis, which opened in July 2017, will be a major driver for 'affordable residential property'.
The report said Ezdan Oasis was targeting both individual, and corporates looking for staff accommodation.
"Rents ranging from QR4,500 for one-bedroom apartment to QR6,500 for three-bedroom, have set a benchmark for newly built mid-market apartments on the outskirts of Doha," the report added.
The DTZ report further said that in the secondary market, the asking rents have fallen by 6 to 10 percent over the past 12 months.
"This market has been impacted by a large number of new buildings, which has put pressure on occupancy rates," the report said.
On the hospitality sector, the report noted that currently there were 17,000 hotel keys and serviced apartments at various stages of planning and construction in Qatar, with the majority of projects catering to four-star or five-star specifications.
New initiatives by Qatar government like visa-free entry to citizens of 80 countries and the introduction of the e-visa platform have proved relatively successful to date.
"These new initiatives coupled with the concentration on new markets have seen traffic from a number of countries increasing, notably China (26 percent), Turkey (22 percent), Australia (17 percent), Hong Kong (16 percent) and Russia (15 percent).
"The drive to attract tourists from new markets will be vital for increasing demand to occupy the new hotel rooms that have already been built, and those that are yet to complete," the report added.
On the retail sector, the report pointed out that the total supply of organised retail accommodation in Qatar surpassed 1.39 million square metres following the recent opening of Tawar Mall in Umm Lekhba.
The report said there were currently 21 retail malls in Doha, excluding local neighbourhood shopping arcades and standalone hypermarkets.
"Between them, Doha Festival City, Mall of Qatar and Villagio Mall account for more than 40 percent of retail accommodation, providing a total of 565,000 sqm gross leasable area and the supply of organised retail accommodation has increased by more than 200 percent since 2010," the DTZ report added.
