According to the second annual Destination Qatar report from global real estate consultancy Knight Frank, in Doha’s residential market, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals and foreigners living in the GCC are willing to spend up to $538 million.
Based on a survey of 249 foreign nationals and 253 GCC citizens with a minimum monthly income of $5,000, Knight Frank is a renowned independent global real estate consultancy with offices in London.
“The principal reason GCC nationals and GCC-based expats would like to own residential property in Qatar is purely for capital gains, while the second biggest motivation is for a buy-to-let property,” said Adam Stewart, Partner – Head of Qatar, Knight Frank.
All told, the survey found that there is a possible $537.5 million pool of private capital that would be interested in buying a home in Qatar. In comparison, the total value of all residential sales in Qatar during the first half (H1) of 2024 stood at $907mn, highlighting the rapidity at which Qatar is starting to court the interest of regional purchasers and investors.
It stated that a number of factors have contributed to the muted state of the Qatari housing market over the past year. That demand for residential real estate has been mostly steady despite supply growing.
“This supply-demand imbalance, combined with mortgage affordability issues, continues to exert downward pressure on property prices and rental rates,” the report said.
In spite of this, the residential market has become the most sought-after asset class for GCC citizens and foreigners residing in the GCC. Of those questioned by Knight Frank, 65% expressed a strong desire to purchase a home in Qatar in the next five years, and 28% said they would like to do so in 2024.
Qatari buyers have long dominated the residential real estate market in Qatar. International buyers now have access to 99-year leasehold ownership after restrictions were further loosened in 2018 and it was opened to GCC nationals in 2002.
The foreign population in Qatar has demonstrated a strong interest in home ownership over the past five years, as evidenced by the 4.5% average increase in home values from 2018 to the end of H1 2024.
According to Knight Frank, 69% of GCC citizens and foreign residents are willing to spend up to $1 million on a residential purchase in Qatar, with only 7% being willing to spend more than $4 million.
Fifty-five percent of GCC nationals in the 25–34 age group are willing to spend between $500k and $1 million on a house in Qatar. Budgets are smaller for foreigners living in the GCC, and the majority are unwilling to spend more than $500,000. This falls between 34% and 41% of people in the 25–34 age range and 45–54 age group.
Of Emiratis, about 47% are willing to invest between $500k and $1 million. Twenty-eight percent of Saudi citizens would prefer to spend no more than $500,000.
With an average budget of $1.3 million, GCC nationals in the 25–34 age group have the largest averages. For expats based in the GCC who are 45–54 years old, this drops to $630,000. With an average budget of $1.4 million, UAE citizens have the biggest potential for residential purchases in Qatar.
GCC nationals and expats residing in the GCC ranked branded residences as the joint most popular real estate asset class among prospective investors from throughout the region.
“With real estate budgets ranging from $1.1mn for GCC-based expats to $806,000 for the GCC nationals, the branded residential sector’s expansion appears almost inevitable if Qatar is to capture some of this apparent pent-up demand for branded homes in the country,” said Shehzad Jamal, Partner (Strategy and Consultancy) – Real Estate, Healthcare and Education, Middle East and North Africa.
