The level of demand in real estate in Qatar hit its lowest point of the year last month, as indicators declined further, real estate researcher Century 21 said in its monthly report. Apartment rental rates faced more than 10% declines in areas such as Bin Omran, Al Muntazah and Al Matar, while Madinat Khalifa witnessed a growth in rates. Overall residential rental rates showed a weak performance in both villas and apartments sectors in different parts of Doha in August, with villas more affected than apartments. Villas in the Al Hilal area saw approximately 12% declines in rentals, while those in Al Dafna, Duhail and Garrafa saw rents dropping 9%. Abu Hamour saw a slight upturn of 4%. “The slump was thanks to a seasonal slowdown on the back of large numbers of residents travelling abroad, and reduced economic activity during Ramadan,” the report said. “Average villa rental rates by area have seen three areas registering below QR10,000 mark for the first time. August has seen three areas below the mark of QR10,000 in terms of villa average monthly rental rates,” the report said. “Most of other areas under study have witnessed average villa rental rates hitting unprecedented levels with less than QR12,000 per month,” it added. Apartments registered three levels according to monthly rental rates; below QR4,500 (Muaither, Al Muntazah, Bin Omran and Madinat Khalifa), around QR5,000 (Al Mansoura, Al Matar and Bin Mahmoud), and above QR5,500 (Najma and Al Sadd). Tenants vacating residences in favour of other properties with lower rents and higher quality is continuing to contribute to the pressure on residential market, the report said, while adding that rents are expected to show some recovery by end of September with back-to-school season. According to the report, office market plunged further in August, with large volumes of office supply driving the market further down. Most office space on offer in the market currently is leased for less than QR150 per s qm per month. Few exceptions existed in grade-A office space, mainly in the West Bay area. Central areas saw monthly office rates dropping further to QR90 per sqm due to high competition. In terms of transactions, August saw sales of approximately QR616mn in value, 51% of which were land sales. http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=384307&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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