The average monthly salary in the country in 2011, the latest year for which official statistics are available, was QR7,401 ($2,033). This figure rose to QR9,177 ($2,521) in the first quarter (January to March) of 2012.
The averages are based on data from Qatar Statistics Authority, which is now merged into the newly-created Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.
Official figures for average house rents are not available, but operators in Qatar’s thriving rental market say it is impossible to get even a small independent housing unit on rent within the limits of the sprawling Greater Doha for less than QR5,000.
That makes up 55 percent or more than half of the average monthly salary (based on the first quarter (Q1) 2012 data) in a country that needs to woo expatriates in large numbers to work on its infrastructure development projects.
A severe dearth of affordable housing, with rents of up to QR3,500 ($961), has left people in lower-middle income groups struggling looking for modest accommodation.
Developers have focused entirely on building housing stocks within the city limits of Doha and in its far-flung suburbs to cater to people in upper-middle and high income brackets.
The situation, particularly since the severe housing shortages caused by large-scale demolitions for beautification and development projects during 2004-08, has led to the emergence of a greedy class of middlemen.
This exploitative genre of go-betweens has been taking villas on rent and partitioning them to carve out makeshift housing units to accommodate an increasing number of families desperate for a rented dwelling costing QR3,000 to QR3,500.
Sources swear the outlawed activity is thriving with the blessings of some equally greedy property owners.
Such dormitory-style pigeonhole homes carved out in flagrant violation of safety rules and without the necessary official approvals pose a big risk to the safety of the men, women and children who huddled in them.
Current housing development schemes seem to be entirely ignoring affordable housing stocks, giving rise to talk in some expatriate circles that with the arrival of sudden wealth, Qatar doesn’t need foreigners in lower-middle income jobs.
Reliable sources say that while the above argument is far-fetched, the fact remains that not many foreigners are willing to come here for technical jobs at the middle-income level, discouraged by spiralling house rents.
Given Doha’s fast-changing skyline, the day is not far, argue sceptics, when only two categories of people would be left in the country: those living in upper-middle and high-end homes, and those at the other end of the social spectrum living in labour camps.
Lower- and middle-income expatriate families may gradually be pushed out by soaring rents and inflationary pressures, leaving a vacuum in the local job market.
THE PENINSULA
