Kuwait Real Estate News
Kuwaiti real estate firms operating abroad to return home
Kuwaiti real estate companies are scattered across several countries in the world, as they seek more profitable and safer opportunities. However, with the onset of economic crises regionally and globally, there arises the possibility of these companies returning to the local market as they are the safest bet.
Several Kuwaiti property companies operating abroad, aim to take advantage of the great amenities offered by those countries to foreign companies both in terms of obtaining permits and the credit facilities being offered.
Private sector companies are of the opinion that for some time Acts 8 and9 of 2008 limited work of the private sector in residential real estate, which constitutes a major part of real estate market.
The Chairman and Managing Director of Commercial Markets Complex Company, Tawfeeq al-Jarrah, who spoke to KUNA (Kuwait News Agency), agreed that the Dubai crisis could push few of the Kuwaiti companies operating there to return and invest in Kuwait again.
Local property market is characterized by high degree of safety and confidence, as only the private commercial sector had been affected during the global financial crisis.
If the government continues with its projected investment projects, it will surely have a positive impact on the large real estate companies operating in the Kuwait market, making it more attractive, he explained.
There is an increase in demand for all types of real estate in Kuwait, and there is no other equivalent to this demand. Therefore, the real estate prices in Kuwait continue to remain stable, despite the decline in other countries, he added.
He emphasized that several companies operating abroad and Kuwaiti investors are only too willing to invest in their own country, but, the opportunities are still limited in the local market. The dominance by the government on the land is one of the defects in the Kuwaiti market, and amendments of Acts 8 and 9 for the year 2008 is required, in order to open more opportunities for private sector, particularly in the residential real estate, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Chairman and Managing Director of Salhia Real Estate Company, Ghazi Al-Nafisi, told KUNA that Kuwaiti real estate companies are welcomed and granted amenities abroad, whether in terms of investment laws or for land ownership. But, the Kuwaiti market does not offer the same treatment. There are unjustified restrictions, with the state owing majority of the land in the country, which is no-doubt a major obstruction to the work of the private sector.
According to Al-Nafisi, Kuwait is likely to bear the negative impact of the Dubai crisis on the local real estate companies operating in the emirate, and expressed his regret that few local companies have been badly affected by the stock market, although they do not operate in Dubai.
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