Staff Reporter
THE real estate sector in Qatar is expected to get a further boost in the coming years with the completion of a number of investment-oriented commercial and residential properties, said a senior official of a leading company engaged in developing several projects.
Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the Qatar Real Estate and Investment Exhibition at the Qatar International Exhibition Center yesterday, vice-president (sales & marketing) of 1st Qatar Real Estate Development Company Pierce Moerland said with a number of banks and other financial institutions in Qatar willing to finance upto 100% on high-end properties in Qatar, a lot of affluent nationals and expatriates were evincing interest in new property, especially those on locations such as Pearl Qatar.
1st Qatar Real Estate Development Company is engaged in more than 200 projects on the Pearl Qatar Island.
Moerland feels that there is virtually no other sector where one’s investment gets as much appreciation as in real estate s. On most loans in the real estate sector, the repayments are spread over between 10 and 25 years, said Moerland.
Moerland, who has been in the real estate sector for close to two decades in Europe and the US, feels that with a lot of resourceful professionals arriving in the region, especially in Qatar, the day is not too far away when expatriates will own properties in the country.
Already, the government has relaxed rules and regulations on purchase of property by expatriates and even affluent non-residents.
Answering a question, Moerland said more than 50% of the 200 odd residential properties being developed by his company on projects such as Porto Arabia and Viva Bahariya had already sold. “More than two-thirds of buyers are either resident expatriates or buyers from abroad,” he said.
The 1st Qatar Real Estate Development Company official also feels that there would be enormous scope for renting out such properties in the coming years either on daily or monthly basis. Moerland feels that even an investment on a single-room studio apartment would fetch the buyer not less than QR12,000/month in a year at his company’s newly developing properties.
“Such is the demand for high-end properties in the country,” said the real estate professional. |
