The residential property market in Qatar is in decline amid a supply surge. The situation is no better for commercial property, with the office market facing oversupply challenges, retail under increasing pressure, and hotel occupancy levels falling, according to the Qatar Real Estate Market Review for Spring-Summer 2023 by Knight Frank.

Regarding residential property, Faisal Durrani, head of research, Middle East and North Africa, explained: “The supply-demand imbalance, rising interest rates, and affordability challenges are contributing to a shrinking mortgage market and impacting the volume of home sales, while also undermining residential values. Indeed, the total number of residential sales transactions has fallen by 36% over the last 12 months. Simultaneously, the total value of residential transactions has declined by 24%.”

With rents dropping in the majority of the districts in Doha, Lusail’s Waterfront and Fox Hills districts experienced the highest quarterly depreciation of 23% and 18%, respectively, in the average quoted rents for apartments.

Durrani added: “The sharp decline in rents will undoubtedly put landlords under pressure to remain competitive.”

Moving on to rental yields, during Q2 2023, the gross single-let rental yield for residential properties in Qatar averaged 6%. Apartments had a higher yield of 6.4%, while villas yielded slightly lower at 4%.