Sale of ‘vacant sites increases by 50 percent'

There has been a 50% increase in the volume of sale of vacant sites in the country this year in comparison to the previous year. Quoting experts,  the local Arabic daily Arrayah said in a report that vacant sites have been sold mostly for developmental projects - an indication of the eagerness on the part of investors to focus on development projects. But it is also observed that prices of vacant sites are increasing by leaps and bounds. A plot of land in an extent of 450 sq.m. was available in the beginning of this year for QR1.2mn but it has now doubled. If such an increase continues, it is feared that it may lead to a slump in the real estate business and the investor would have to bear the brunt of the enormous cost. An expert and real estate estimator, Khalifa al-Maslamani was of the view that easy loan terms and a surplus of liquidity with investors have been factors in this boom. Besides this, there have been some very high end deals of certain sites recently. Two sites were sold for QR500mn and QR300mn respectively. From gulf times.