Rent adjustments expected after World Cup, says Cityscape Qatar official

Cityscape group director Chris Speller told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the recently-concluded event that the market is anticipating lower rents in 2023, citing the UAE’s post-Expo 2020 experience.“I think there will be an adjustment after the World Cup; the UAE recently hosted the expo and prior to this event, rents and pricing structures are high, and perhaps that will be similar here because after the expo, we’re now seeing a decline and what becomes a new norm,” Speller explained.But Speller also stated that global conflicts, inflation, and supply chain challenges, among other factors, will still have an impact on the real estate market, among other sectors.“I think some areas of the world are continually being impacted because of various situations; global issues like what’s happening in Ukraine and around the supply network of oil and gas – these are elements that are outside of everybody’s control. Also, we still have to import raw materials and around the world, countries are very reliant on each other, so those are also going to continue to have an impact.“What we don’t know is how much of an impact this is going to have. For example, where does our steel come from, where do some of those raw materials come from, and how is that going to impact the real estate market?” Speller explained further.He said: “We have another Cityscape – a very large show over in Egypt. Currently, the developers in Egypt are unsure how much to sell their products because they don’t know how it’s going to cost to build it because of the raw materials; the cost of steel has increased by 300% in Egypt and they also have problems with foreign exchange rates and inflation rates.”Earlier, Speller said new master developments would be announced next year as Qatar shifts its attention from the World Cup to focusing more on its plans to achieve the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.He said Qatar will start to announce new projects coming into the market in 2023 and that the government will continue with its economic diversification strategy by bringing in new industries across different sectors, as well as other initiatives that would drive growth and development in the country’s economy.