DOHA: Real estate markets in Qatar and the rest of the GCC may not be affected due to falling world oil prices, Ezdan Holding Group said in its report for November issued yesterday.
Qatar’s real estate sector particularly remains unscathed by the sharply declining global crude rates, the report said in its highlights.
The economies of the GCC states will not be hugely affected by lower oil prices, although member-countries may slightly limit the size of state spending if crude rates continue to fall.
The strength and durability of the Gulf economies will protect them from the consequences of this drop, said the report.
Qatar does not rely primarily on oil to finance its annual budget despite the fact that it evaluates it according to the benchmark price of oil as the Qatari economy is largely dependent on the export of LNG through long-term contracts and at an almost constant price, said the report.
So the Qatari economy remains strong, especially with the diversification of income policy adopted by the government.
The value of real estate transactions in the first three weeks of November 2014 was QR2.9bn ($247.15bn) and is expected to have reached QR4bn ($1.1bn) by month-end. The total for October 2014 was QR4.5bn ($1.23bn) and QR5.9bn ($1.62bn) in November, 2013.
The report talked of exceptional deals struck by Barwa Real Estate Company during the beginning of December 2014, involving the sale of two plots of land in Mesaimeer in Doha for QR5.3bn.
The agreement says the ownership of the first plot is to be delivered before the year-end while the delivery of the second is scheduled in the first quarter of 2015.
The deals are designed to increase the liquidity in Barwa to cover financial obligations, and allow the company to consider entering new investments and projects that might generate targeted returns, including contributing to the strengthening of its financial position and maximising the return for shareholders.
The Peninsula
