Property deals generate QR4.9 billion in Q1 2022: Utopia Properties Index

Property deals worth QR4.85 billion were struck in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2022) in Qatar, down 4.4 percent when compared with that in Q4 2021 and down 31.5 percent against that in Q1 2021, according to Utopia Properties.
The first quarter of 2022 saw 1,251 deals, recording an average of QR3.9 million per deal, the real estate market research firm said in its latest report. The average was QR4.2 million in Q4 2021, it added.
The deals included 572 houses, 571 vacant land lots, 63 residential buildings, five apartment complexes, 15 commercial buildings, 16 multi-purpose vacant plots and nine multi- purpose buildings. While vacant plots went for an average of QR287 per square foot, houses fetched QR431 per square foot and residential buildings QR1,255 per square foot.
Al Rayyan municipality received the biggest returns from the deals —QR1.88 billion from 359 deals, with an average of QR5.25 million per deal. This accounts for 38.9 percent of the total value.
Doha municipality came in second with QR1.25 billion from 257 deals, at QR4.87 million per deal. It is followed by Al Daayen municipality with QR572.3 million from 183 deals, at QR3.12 million per deal.
“Calmness was the dominant feature of the Q1 transactions amid the disappearance of major deals of houses, except the personal transactions. The average of vacant land deals amounted to QR2.91 million, while the average recorded QR3.14 million for houses deals. This slight difference between them is due to the absence of exceptional deals,” said Mohamed Farghaly, CEO of Utopia Properties.
“The multi-use buildings deals also recorded only nine deals with a total value of QR88.2 million, compared to 18 deals that were executed during the same period in 2021. The deals of Q1 2022 were distributed to include the sale of six buildings in Doha municipality, and one building in each of Al Rayyan, Al Wakra and Umm Salal municipalities.”
Farghaly explained that the technical analysis of Q1 deals also revealed that ready-made properties acquired more than 52 percent of the total number of deals and about 60 percent of the total value of the executed deals during the first three months of this year.
“This means that it is a sought-after real estate product, especially with the approach of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.”
Although Utopia Index does not monitor rent values and the number of new lease contracts and their values due to the lack of official data, the market research firm has monitored increases in rates ranging between 30 and60 percent in terms of rents, in areas such as The Pearl, where rental rates increased by around 50 percent, Farghaly said.
Emerging zones
Rashid Fahd Al Ajlan Al Kaabi, General Manager of Utopia Properties, said the quarterly index data indicated that the average selling prices in Al Daayen municipality exceeded their counterparts in Al Wakrah municipality, which is a new variable on the market as a result of the great momentum that the city of Lusail in Al Daayen municipality as well as future expectations related to it Whether in terms of vacant land or ready-made properties.
“The transactions of the first three months of 2022 showed that five zones — Al-Wukair, Umm Qarn, Umm Al-Amad, Muaither and Al-Khor — acquired 30 percent of the total number of real estate deals and only 17 percent of the total transactions value during that period. These are the zones that accounted for 13 percent of the number of deals and 9 percent of the transactions value during Q1 of 2021, and this is due to the decrease in the average price of real estate in those emerging zones.”
In terms of residential complex transactions, only five deals were executed for residential complexes with a total value of QR119.5 million, compared to the execution of 15 deals worth QR341.5 million during the same quarter of 2021. Q1 of 2022 witnessed the execution of three deals of complexes in Al Rayyan Municipality and a complex in each of Al Daayen and Umm Slal Municipalities.