Doha: The real estate market in Qatar is set to grow 50 per cent this year as the government pumps money into infrastructure and oil and gas development, the CEO of a top Qatari real estate company said.
Walid Al Saadi of United Development Company (UDC) said a new government budget which boosts spending on infrastructure and services by 71 per cent from the previous year will accelerate a real estate boom in what is already one of the world's fastest growing economies.
"There is big demand for real estate and there is a lot of liquidity so at this point investment in real estate is very feasible," Saadi said on the sidelines of an economic forum this week in Qatar.
Qatar's economy, which is expected to double to around $70 billion in the next five years, is already attracting up to 120,000 expatriates per year, a number Saadi said will grow.
An Opec member with the world's third-largest natural gas reserves, Qatar is aiming to increase its liquified natural gas (LNG) output to 77 million tonnes by 2010, from about 25 million tonnes now. Mega-projects are sprouting around Doha, a large part of which like nearby Dubai resembles a construction site. Contractors in the city, located on the Gulf coast, complain that activity is so fevered that cranes often aren't delivered until a year after order.
Saadi said UDC plans to invest 9 billion riyals ($2.47 billion) over the next three years to develop The Pearl, a luxury complex expected to house 35,000 residents when completed in 2009.
Total investment in the sector by Qatari companies, he said, could reach 50 billion riyals within the next three years. Two other massive residential complexes, the $5 billion Lusail project and the $1 billion Al Waab City Project, are also being constructed. The government of Qatar will allow freehold ownership at The Pearl, Saadi said, as part of an effort to open up the real estate sector and draw foreign investment.
In February, the government issued a new law allowing foreigners to lease property for up to 99 years around Doha, and nationals of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to own property in three areas.
