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Kuwait real estate sales down 37pc

Kuwait, August 24, 2014

The real estate sales in Kuwait fell 37 per cent year-on-year (y/y) in July  to KD268 million ($941 million) compared to last year, according to a report.

The sales plunged by 49 per cent compared to June, which was a record month, stated the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) in its report.

Sales across all sectors were down, however, with the drop attributed to seasonality and the fact that July only had 18 short working days when factoring in Ramadan and the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.  

Sales in the Kuwaiti residential sector fell 31 per cent y/y to KD132 million in July, said the country's top lender in the report.

The number of transactions in July dropped to 429, down 30 per cent y/y. It is not unusual to see performances in this sector decline during the summer. The overall outlook for the sector, however, remains stable, it stated.

According to NBK, a total of 294 residential transactions took place in Ahmadi Governorate, placing it first among governorates with 68 per cent of all transactions.

Mubarak Al-Kabeer followed with an 11per cent share and Kuwait City with 7 per cent. In the residential sector, 74 per cent of all transactions involved the purchase and sale of land or vacant plots.

The sales in the investment sector stood at KD133 million in July, down 24 per cent y/y. The sector experienced a larger decline of 49 per cent y/y in the number of transactions, which led to an increase in the average transaction size to KD1.2 million.

According to NBK, the apartments accounted for 48 per cent of all transactions in the investment sector. Whole buildings came in second, comprising 36 per cent of all transactions.

The majority of these transactions (buildings & apartments) were in Ahmadi Governorate, with the largest transaction in the sector involving an entire building which sold for KD11 million. Transactions involving vacant plots accounted for 12.5 per cent.
 
On the commercial sector, the NBK report said there was a sharp decline from KD114.4 million in June to KD 3.4 million last month.

Only three transactions were recorded during the month, with one large property in Al-Jahra governorate costing KD2.6 million.

The sales in this sector can be relatively volatile from month to month, however sales are up on average in recent months, the Kuwaiti lender said in its report.

July saw one coastal line transaction valued at KD5 million. The property is located in Mubarak Al-Kabir governorate. Costal line transactions tend to be infrequent and high in value, it added.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Kuwait | real estate | NBK |

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