Rent in Qatar is Expected to Keep Increasing Due to Rising Demand

The report predicted that rents would continue to rise in the Gulf nation.

According to Oxford Economics, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will continue to exert higher pressure on rent prices nationwide in the following months.

Due to the anticipated demand in the hotel sector in November—when more than one million spectators will swarm to the nation to attend the major sporting event live—the Gulf state now stands out as having the highest rate of housing inflation in the area.

In its most recent research study, Oxford Economics stated that "we forecast for continued upward pressure on rentals in Qatar in the coming months amid an upsurge in activity due to the football World Cup later this year."

The cost of renting has significantly increased in Qatar over the past year, with certain areas seeing increases of over 50%. It comes as various regions in Qatar started drafting binding two-year contracts, which many have seen as a ploy to profit on incoming tournament revenue.

The survey predicts that as a result of increasing demand from locals and returning expatriates as a result of the pandemic, rental costs will similarly climb throughout the other GCC countries.

Several real estate agents, especially in the neighboring nation of the United Arab Emirates, which is only a one-hour flight from Doha, had previously observed this.

Real estate agents told Alrabiya that since last year, football enthusiasts have been snatching up short-term rentals in Dubai as a lodging alternative for the eagerly anticipated 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, sparking a boom in the city's hospitality industry.

On the other hand, a continued improvement in housing demand and preservation of the increase in the CPI's rental component would produce a favorable outlook that is anticipated to promote hiring throughout the region and draw in foreign workers.

Residents in Qatar are furious by the increase in rent before the World Cup and are threatening to move

As foreign inflationary pressures ease, internal dynamics brought on by the strength of the regional economic recovery and its effects on the demand for housing and services will cause inflation to move in the opposite direction.

Due to rising rental costs, which make up an average of 27% of the consumer basket in the (Gulf) region – nearly as much as food and transportation put together – housing is no longer a damper on headline inflation rates.

Inflation in the GCC is now forecasted to average 3.2 percent in 2022, up from the 2.8 percent Oxford Economics anticipated six months ago. The research also stated that inflation will begin to drop in the second half of 2022.

The global inflation rate is predicted to be 7.5% this year, making the GCC's inflation rate lower than that of the majority of advanced and emerging countries.

Experts noted that they "think the GCC inflation is close to its peak" and emphasized that this increase is typical of other locations.