Kuwaiti real estate sales recovered in May registering a 27 per cent year-on-year growth on the back of well-performing residential and investment segment following a dip in sales the previous month, said a report.

Five months into the year, activity in the real estate sector seems to be in good shape, stated a report by National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).

"However, we expect some slowdown in the near-term driven by the start of the summer season and Ramadan," it added.

According to NBK, the sales in the residential sector surged 32 per cent to hit KD 148 million ($517 million) in May. The rise was mainly due to an increase in the average transaction size, while the total number of transactions almost flat y/y, said the report.
   
The investment sector too witnessed a 32 per cent growth in sales which rose to KD103 million, said the top Kuwaiti lender in its report.

"Some of the increase may be attributed to a base effect as May of last year was a slow month, recording only 90 transactions, compared to 174 transactions in May 2013. Nonetheless, the sector remains in relatively good shape, managing to sustain attention from investors, while occupancy rates, anecdotally, have remained high," it stated.

The commercial sector recorded KD35 million in sales, practically flat y/y. For May, the sales spanned four of Kuwait’s 6 governorates, and included the purchase of 4 buildings, 3 complexes, and a single plot of land.

Overall, the segment managed to be up considerably y/y in 4 out of 5 months of the year, averaging just over KD 28 million per month, compared to an average of KD19 million for the same period in 2012, said the NBK report.

 So far in 2013, the sector seems to be showing signs of recovery, it added.-TradeArabia News Service