Qatar rents rise as firms seek alternative to Dubai

Dubai: Qatar's office rents surged about 20 per cent in the year to June, partly because businesses moved to the country in search of a cheaper alternative to Dubai, property firm CB Richard Ellis said.

Office occupancy rates in Doha, Qatar's capital, reached 98 per cent in the first half and rents are expected to jump a further 10 per cent this year as the country's economic boom draws more businesses, the firm said.

"Office space in the capital was in high demand due to the expansion and interest from international companies looking for better priced alternatives to Dubai," it said in a report on its website yesterday.

Office rents in Dubai, which started the Gulf's real estate boom by allowing foreigners to invest in its property market in 2002, have tripled in since 2005, another property services firm, UAE-based Asteco, said yesterday.

Annual office rents for Doha's West Bay business area were more than $700 per square metre, according Richard Ellis' data.