Kuwait's real estate sector has recorded solid growth in FY 2025 with the Q4 property sales reaching record levels, supported by a significant increase in residential sales and robust commercial sales. For the full year, sales came in at KD4.4 billion ($14.3 billion),  also the best on record, according to the National Bank of Kuwait.

This was aided by gains in the investment and commercial segments as well as a rise in residential plot sales, with sellers perhaps offloading empty plots before the residential land monopoly law came into effect this year. 

The prospects for real estate activity in 2026 look positive, with momentum supported by potential further monetary easing, legislation including granting foreign shareholders the right to own property (excluding private residences) and the anticipated approval of the real estate financing law on top of activation of the residential land monopoly law to curb hoarding of idle residential lands.

Residential activity drives sales

Total real estate sales reached KD 1.3 billion in Q4 2025, surpassing the previous quarterly peak recorded in Q2 2014. This increase was driven by a sharp acceleration in residential sales to KD587 million (+48% q/q; +29% y/y), the strongest quarterly reading since Q3 2021.

The surge was primarily driven by a pronounced increase in residential plot sales in the Sabah Al-Ahmad coastal area (KD129 million), perhaps reflecting the abovementioned implementation of the residential land monopoly in January 2026.

Stripping out these transactions, residential sales growth would have otherwise been much less strong (+15.8% q/q; +0.6% y/y) and resulted in an overall decline in the value of real estate transactions in Q4 (-3.5% q/q). 

Commercial activity, the most volatile segment, remained robust at KD303 million, albeit below the exceptional KD441 million recorded in Q3 2025. Sales in this segment were supported by several large-ticket deals, including sizable land sales in Al-Farwaniya and Kuwait City (KD63 million) and the sale of two commercial buildings in the Hawalli and Kuwait City governorates worth KD60 million in total. 

Meanwhile, investment property sales rose modestly in Q4 (+7.3% q/q), despite a decline in transaction volumes.

Real estate sales hit historical high

For the full year 2025, total sales were 27% higher than the previous year and the best performance in more than two decades of available data. This was underpinned by strong activity in the commercial and investment segments. 

Commercial sales reached an all-time high of KD953 million, while investment property sales recorded the fastest growth among all segments (+39% y/y to KD1.67 billion), said NBK in its report. 

Meanwhile, residential sales continued to recover (+14.3% y/y to KD1.75 billion). The average transaction size in 2025

was down by -5.2%, which could indicate a possible shift toward smaller or lower-value units in outer areas.

According to NBK, the shift in sales toward the commercial and investment segments could reflect a change in investors’ sentiment toward income‑generating assets, partly in response to easing financial conditions. 

Moreover, amendments to investment housing regulations allied to government efforts to curb speculative activity in the residential segment (particularly through enforcement of the residential land monopoly law) likely redirected liquidity to the investment and commercial segments. 

Additional regulatory changes that permit non-Kuwaiti participation in the real estate market (June 2025), including listed companies, licensed funds, and investment portfolios (excluding residential land), have contributed to a strong rebound in the sector’s performance at Boursa Kuwait with the Real Estate Index (BKRE) expanding by 49.9% in 2025, it added.-TradeArabia News Service