DOHA: Real estate deals were low-key for the second week in a row, with market operators saying this is a lean period and they expect buoyancy to return soon.
Transactions in the week from August 31 to September 4 totalled QR413.35m.
In the preceding week, the value of 105 deals was QR514.13m. “This is a lean period as Ramadan, Eid Al Adha are just over,” said Ahmed Al Oruqui, a prominent real estate expert.
He told this daily that major decisionmakers in the real estate sector were out of the country.
“Plus, you may be noticing that no big deals are taking place these days so the value of total weekly transactions continues to be relatively less,” he added.
Among the major deals in the week under review were two villas in The Pearl-Qatar.
They were sold for QR30m each, details of the weekly transactions issued by the Real Estate Registration Department of the Ministry of Justice show.
Like the week before, in the one under review, most deals involved small plots of land for housing in different parts of the country.
The areas included Umm Salal, Al Khor, Doha, Old Airport Area, Fereej bin Omran, Ain Khalid, Muaither, Umm Qarn and Al Wukair, among others.
Two small plots in the Old Airport locality of Doha, one admeasuring 109sqm and the other 191sqm, were sold for QR1.65m and QR2.25m, respectively.
Real estate prices, particularly of open land, continue to be high, and vary considerably in areas depending on the location.
In Aba Zuloof in the north of the country (Al Shamal), prices are relatively lower at QR1,840 per sqm (QR171 per square feet), and high in Old Airport area (around QR12,000 to QR13,000 per sqm), or QR1,115 per sq feet.
In Al Khor, the rate is averaging at QR3,000 per sqm, while even in far-off Al Khartiyat, prices remain high at QR4,000 per sqm (QR371.6 per sq feet).
The Peninsula
