Building Bahrain

One of the Gulf's most successfully diversified economies faces more competition than ever before. Martin Cooper of DTZ looks at how Bahrain’s real estate market is facing up to its challenges.

As with many of the region's success stories, real estate expansion has been one of the drivers of economic growth as well as one of its most obvious consequences.

The changing face of Bahrain's property development over the last few years has seen it move towards an alternative pattern of land use which includes dense commercial and financial districts, ‘mega-projects' such as Durrat al Bahrain and larger, higher-end retail centres.

DTZ, one of  the region's  established firm of real estate advisors, and a regular publisher of research on the region's property trends recently conducted research on Bahrain, soon to be launched as a major market report Robert Addison, Country Manager of Bahrain and Director EMEA Retail, reveals that Bahrain, has a good prognosis for continued growth.

"The Gulf is well-known for its predictions of vast and rapid growth and our research has shown that there will be continued strength in Bahrain's real estate market - across residential, commercial and retail sectors."

"All three of these sectors will see growth in the short to medium term - albeit at a slower pace than has been seen previously - fuelled by existing investment and continued external demand."

Real estate market

According to figures from DTZ's research division, Bahrain's real estate market faces a record year in 2008, with an estimated turnover of US$5.7 billion. This number represents a 58% increase in market transactions from 2007, based on the first quarter's results of US$1.4 billion.

A key ingredient in driving this growth has been strong demand from the local Bahraini market, who are responsible for more than 90% of all the Kingdom's real estate purchases.

Improved finance options have succeeded in countering rising property prices, allowing a greater number of locals to buy property.

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