Bank of Kuwait expects a boost

Dubai : Transactional activity remains subdued in Kuwait based on September trends.

There were just 347 real estate related deals registered with the Ministry of Justice. This is down 24 per cent from August and far below the 700-plus deals recorded prior to summer.

Part of the reason for the September drop can be attributed to its being the off-season.

"The next few months should be a better indicator of the underlying state of the market. We expect to see some bounce-back in the level of activity, with a combination of improving economic optimism, strong land sales and property's favourable position as an asset class," said a report issued by the National Bank of Kuwait.

Surge

It was apparent that buyers may be sharing the sentiment when activity surged in the second half of September. Nearly a third of all transactions came in the final four days of the month. In value terms, there was an improvement over August, as sales totalled 173 million dinars (Dh2.2 billion), up 55 per cent from a month before and a substantial 199 per cent from the September 2009 volumes.