Recovering from a recession-driven slump, the real estate sector is set to get a boost, as adding to a slew of private projects being announced, the government has decided to disburse easy long-term house loans to more than 5,400 nationals. The development, according to property market observers, would further ease housing shortage, help stabilise the rental market and pep up construction activity. The list of some 5,433 Qatari beneficiaries has been issued by the Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and the minimum loan amount has been fixed at QR600,000. And depending on a beneficiary’s repaying capacity and housing need, the loan amount can even be raised, the bank has said. More than 4,400 of the beneficiaries were on the waiting list last year and of this, 322 are women applicants. A 1,000 new applicants have figured on the list and they have been given time until October this year to complete the formalities to access the loan. Others have been asked to process the loan by producing necessary documents like building permits from the municipalities concerned, copies of agreements with contracting companies (to build the house) and designs (of the houses) between August 1 this year and March 31, 2010. The QDB had earlier decided to begin processing the loans for the above category of beneficiaries from November 1, but considering the urgency of the matter, the processing is to now start from August 1. The bank has said in a statement that of the 1,000 new beneficiaries, those who fail to approach it to process the loan, will have to wait until the next financial year. “They will figure again but on the list of beneficiaries in the next budgetary year,” the state-owned QDB said. According to the bank, for fast-track processing of the loans it is setting up a separate department. “We will provide all the necessary help required by a beneficiary and the department being created will exclusively deal with these loans,” the bank has said. And those who require loans exceeding the basic amount of QR600,000 need to produce evidence that they are in a position to repay the sum over a specified tenure. Real estate market observers say they expect most of these housing units to be ready by the end of next year. By this time, private developers are also expected to create more than 10,000 new residential units, including villas and apartments, to meet the housing shortage in the country. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=July2009&file=Local_News2009071322826.xml

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