Al Mazaya Report believes the Gulf
residential real estate markets will continue
to flourish in 2014 as governments look
to add impetus with measures designed
to increase financing and mortgage
lending. In Saudi Arabia the government
is striving to ensure 2.4 million housing
units come onto the market by 2020 to
meet projected demand, while in Kuwait
890,000 homes are believed to be needed
over the same period. Hindrances to
real estate growth in the Gulf will include
high land rates, declining amounts of
land put aside for housing and weak
financing in some areas of the market.
Mazaya Monthly Real Estate Report - January 2014
3
In Dubai, the value of real estate transactions
in the first half of 2013 was put at AED108
billion, a growth rate of 30 percent
compared to the same period in 2012.
The International Kuwaiti Bank issued a
report which showed that in the first nine
months of 2013 real estate transactions
in Kuwait were KD1.05bn, a 77 percent
increase on the previous year. 50
percent of transactions were said to have
taken place in the residential sector, 37
percent in the investment sector and
thirteen percent in the commercial sector.
In Qatar real estate market activity was
worth someQR50bn in 2013, driven by high
levelsofinvestmentconfidenceandliquidity.
Gains in the real estate markets of the
GCC were reflected in 2013 by gains
on the region’s other financial markets.
Listed real estate companies recorded
strong performance throughout the year,
particularly in Saudi Arabia where shares
averaged annual growth of 42 percent.
Shares for construction companies
surged by an average 23.5 percent over
the same period. In Qatar, real estate
company shares rose by 23 percent,
and in Dubai by as much as 88 percent
(Emaar) and 82 percent (Drake and Scull).
Arabtec shares posted 42 percent growth.
