According to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank’s second annual Destination Qatar report, GCC citizens and foreign residents residing in the GCC are willing to spend $538 million on Qatar’s residential market.
With a minimum monthly income of $5,000, Knight Frank and YouGov surveyed 502 GCC nationals and GCC-based expats (253 nationals and 249 expats), to learn more about regional attitudes, appetites, and aspirations regarding owning residential property in Qatar and traveling there for leisure, shopping, and entertainment.
According to Knight Frank, several factors have kept Qatar’s housing market muted over the past year. Despite an increase in supply, demand for residential real estate has remained mostly steady. The mismatch between supply and demand, along with concerns about mortgage affordability, keeps driving down rental rates and property values. Despite this, the most sought-after asset class for GCC citizens and foreigners residing in the GCC is the residential sector. 65% of respondents to a Knight Frank survey expressed a strong desire to buy a home in Qatar during the next five years. Twenty-eight percent want to transact in 2024.
For a considerable amount of time, domestic buyers in Qatar have dominated the residential real estate market. GCC nationals were first allowed access to the market in 2002, and in 2018, additional restrictions were loosened to give foreign buyers the option of 99-year leasehold ownership. As per Knight Frank, foreign residents residing in Qatar have demonstrated a robust inclination towards home ownership in the past five years, as evidenced by the 4.5% average increase in home values from 2018 to the end of H1 2024.
Adam Stewart, Partner – Head of Qatar, explained: “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. Interestingly, this is also the biggest driver for expats living in Saudi as well as those in the UAE.
We have discovered a possible $537.5 million pool of private capital that is actively considering buying a home in Qatar. In contrast, $907 million was the total value of all residential sales in Qatar in the first half of 2024.
This highlighted the rapidity at which Qatar is starting to court the interest of regional purchasers and investors”.
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 say they would be 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 varies from 34% for individuals in the 25–34 age range to 41% for those in the 45–54 age range of Emiratis, 47% are willing to invest between $500k and $1 million.
28 percent of Saudi citizens want to spend no more than $500,000. The GCC nationals with the highest average budgets, at $1.3 million, are those aged 25 to 34. This drops to $630,000 for foreigners living in the GCC who are 45 to 54 years old.
Nonetheless, with an average budget of $1.4 million, UAE citizens have the biggest potential for residential purchases in Qatar.
Stewart continued: “The bulk of project launches that we are aware of fall within the $500,000 to $1m price range, suggesting that residential units are being priced correctly.
It’s now a question of courting buyers in their markets and highlighting the advantages of purchasing in Qatar and the lifestyle that comes with a move to the country”.
Apart from the residential real estate industry, GCC nationals and expatriates residing in the GCC also named branded residences the joint most popular real estate asset class for prospective investors throughout the region.
