Median ticket size for Qatar residential houses stood at QR2.8mn in Q2: ValuStrat

Median ticket size for residential houses in Qatar stood at QR2.8mn in the second quarter of this year, research and consultancy firm ValuStrat said in a report.

As many as five largest ticket sizes were seen in The Pearl, New Salata, Lusail and Abu Hamour for dwellings ranging from 1,400sq m to 5,500sq m, ValuStrat said in its ‘Qatar Real Estate Market 2nd Quarter 2019 Review’.

Median transacted ticket sizes for houses increased by 12% quarterly and 3% annually, it said.

Quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase in median transacted prices can be attributed to larger ticket sizes of housing transactions experienced in areas such as Al Kharaitiyat, Al Markhiya, Lusail, Abu Hamour, Madinat Al Khalifa and Rawdhat Al Hamama, the report said.

Transactional volumes for houses declined 25% QoQ and 14% year-on-year (YoY).

As many as 53 transactions were recorded for residential buildings in the second quarter with Rawdhat Al Khail, Al Sadd, Najma, Al Wakrah and Muaither having the “largest transacted” prices.

As of May this year, transactional volume in The Pearl and West Bay Lagoon was 274 units with a total value of QR612mn, ValuStrat said.

Residential median asking rents declined 5.6% YoY and 1.5% QoQ, while the median monthly asking rent for apartments fell 1.1% quarterly and 5.4% annually.

Secondary apartment locations such as Al Wakrah, Old Airport, Najma and Al Mansoura experienced highest annual declines in rents of up to 13%. Median monthly asking rent for villas fell by 4% QoQ and 7.1% YoY.

Villas in Muraikh, Al Gharrafa, Ain Khaled, Abu Hamour, Al Khor and Umm Salal Mohammed experienced annual falls in rent up to 12%, ValuStrat noted.

In terms of supplies to the industry, ValuStrat said an estimated warehousing space of 500,000sq m gross leasable area (GLA) is projected to be completed by end- 2019.

The average asking rent for dry/ambient warehouses in Qatar was QR34 per sq m, fell by 5% QoQ and 12% YoY.

In temperature-controlled warehouses (intended for food and chemical storage), average asking rent fell by 3% QoQ and 11% YoY.

The average asking rents for cold storage (being leased per unit wise) ranged from QR8,000 to QR14,000 per month in Doha Industrial Area, where average unit sizes scaled from 50-80sq m, the review said.

Net tonnage of bulk cargo more than doubled with Ras Laffan and Hamad Port receiving the highest traffic until May 2019, ValuStrat said citing data from the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).