Qatar’s property agents rue lack of demand – paper

Some real estate agents in Qatar’s capital Doha are lamenting a severe lack of demand for housing, according to a report on Saturday.

According to The Peninsula daily, the realtors believe that if the situation does not improve, the rental market could take a fresh beating.

The business mostly coming the real estate agencies’ way at present, is from existing tenants who want to move from higher-rental units to lower ones or those who want to move to places offering more amenities, the daily added.

"There are little or no new enquiries for rented housing from people arriving afresh in the country to take up jobs," a real estate agent told The Peninsula.

Qatar house prices are poised to ease 15 percent in 2010 on higher supply, but the construction sector would grow as 40 percent of the state budget is earmarked for infrastructure, The First Investor Asset Management said in November.

"We expect 2010 to be the bottom of the market in terms of prices but we don't necessarily see any upturn in 2011 as being aggressive because of the supply coming in," Keith Edwards, head of asset management at the investment bank, said on Monday.

House prices in the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas fell 20 percent during the first nine-months of 2009, Edwards said.