No Rent Correction In Sight: Tenants In Qatar Wonder Why

Doha, Qatar: The hopes of a large number of tenants representing medium income groups regarding rent correction, reduction of housing units have faded as the rents see no downward trend.

Many tenants had a strong perception that rents of housing units will fall post FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 but their hopes have not turned into a reality even after over two years of the mega sporting event.

The government bodies concerned took notable measures, through different initiatives, to encourage companies and entrepreneurs by significantly reducing the charges of commercial licenses and rents of commercial plots of land but no such relief came to the tenants of residential apartments.

Many tenants were expecting that rental rates would decrease after the mega sporting event with a declining demand. Contrary to their expectations, tenants experienced rent increase with some landlords still raising rents.

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A number of tenants The Peninsula talked to said that the rents of their housing units have not decreased as expected while the supply in the market seemed to be much higher than ever.

"This phenomenon is leading to a sense of concern and confusion regarding the anticipated post-World Cup market correction," said a tenant, adding that the situation has raised questions about the actual factors that push residential rents in Qatar, whether they are based on demand and supply factor or are there some other factors contributing to high-rents.

The residents particularly from the medium income groups have urged the authorities concerned to bring about some solutions, such as creating a healthy competition among landlords to offer houses at reasonable rents and encouraging companies and developers to offer more affordable housing units.

Some tenants lamented that during the COVID-19 pandemic they experienced reduction in salaries to some extent but their house rents never went down for a single day despite the fact that many housing flats remain vacant.

"There are many factors effecting rents including brokers, agencies and lack of direct deals between the tenants and property-owners in many cases. The agents want to keep rents up to earn more commissions from the deals," said a tenant.

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