Kuwaitis among largest owners of real estate

The number of nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries who bought up real estate properties in another GCC member state, other than their home country, increased by 51.1% in 2011 to 16107, up from 10654 in 2010, recent figures from a report issued here today by the GCC Secretariat's General Information and Statistical Center showed. In 2011, Kuwaitis were the most buying of real estate in other GCC countries with 8130 ownerships, followed by Saudis (2312) and Emiratis (2267), said the report. This takes the total such inter-GCC real estate ownerships to 93767 by the end of 2011, compared to 77804 by the end of the previous year. The UAE came first among GCC nations in terms of attracting nationals of other GCC states to buy properties there in 2011 with 10873 registered contracts (67.5 percent of all GCC real estate purchase contracts), followed by Oman with 3364 registered contracts representing a 20.9 percent share, and Bahrain in third place with 1189 contracts. Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia came next with 1.9, 1.3, and 1 percentages respectively. Allowing nationals of GCC member countries to own real estate properties in other GCC countries is among the ten domains of the GCC common market as defined by the economic agreement in 2001. The agreement gives GCC nationals of any member state the same treatment accorded to its own citizens, without differentiation or discrimination, in all economic activities including real estate ownership.