Qatar Daily News

Apartment rents in Qatar have fallen by 17 percent since the start of 2009, a new report by the Qatar Statistics Authority has revealed.

Rents in general declined in July by 0.8 percent and a further 1.7 percent last month with the largest fall seen in apartment rents, the authority said in a report published on Sunday.
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The Egyptian unit of Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate BRES.QA will begin building a $9 billion Cairo project in the first quarter of 2010 to tap strong demand for residential property in the north African country.

Real estate and construction firms in the Gulf Arab region, especially in the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly looking at opportunities in the most populous Arab country, to help weather a downturn in their home markets.

“Work will start in the first quarter of 2010, and the project will be finished in 10 to 12 years,” Tarek Bahaa, head of sales and marketing for Barwa New Cairo told Reuters from Cairo on Tuesday.

The firm is studying all options for financing the investment, including Islamic bonds and loans, he added.
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