The government of Qatar is firmly committed to investing in the country’s tourism and infrastructure and has made bids to host international sporting competitions in the future. Projects such as The Pearl Qatar have added a new dimension to the real estate sector. The market has witnessed a drop in prices across all real estate segments, but the government is exerting further controls in a bid to stabilize it.
Updates & Milestones
The first phase of development for Lusail City is currently under way and set for completion in 2011. Once complete, Qatar’s largest new development will house 455,000 people in 17 mixed-use districts connected by a light rail network.49
Work has begun on the $5.5 billion Dohaland project. Slated for completion in 2016, the project aims to reinvigorate the center of Doha and reinstate it as the social and commercial heart of the city while creating housing for 27,000 people.50
New retail complexes such as Lagoona Plaza and Salam Bounian’s The Gate will soon be complete. In a traditionally undersupplied market, retail market rents are set to dampen as the cumulative shopping mall supply increases by an expected 100% between Q1 2009 and Q4 2010.51
Qatar launched Qatar Railway with an initial capital of $100 million to spearhead government plans to connect regions to each other and to link Qatar to neighboring countries. The first phase of the countrywide railway project will begin in 2012 with a monorail linking the towers in the West Bay area of Doha.52
A new law in Qatar has addressed tenant uncertainty by decreeing that a landlord must give six months notice to a tenant in order to recover the rented property. Furthermore, a tenant can be removed from a property only if the housing unit will be used by the landlord or his/her legal dependents.53
House prices fell by 20% in Q1-3 in 2009 and are expected to fall a further 15% in 2010 due to more housing units coming onto the market.54
Join the Discussion