GCC interior fit-out market to reach $9.4bn

The overall GCC interior contracting and fit-out market will increase by 87 per cent in value this year, the highest increase since 2008, from $5 billion in 2011 to $9.4 billion, according to new research by Ventures ME commissioned by dmg:: events, the organising team behind the Index International Design Exhibition, the Middle East and North Africa’s largest and longest established Interiors and Design Exhibition.

The 22nd annual edition of Index will run from September 24, 2012, till September 27, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai. Over 900 exhibitors from 45 countries – including Brazil, Canada, Greece, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Spain, UK – have booked a floor space to showcase their products.

Data released today showed that the UAE remains the GCC’s largest interiors market, with forecast spend in interior contracting and fit-out across residential, commercial, hospitality and retail segments totalling $3.73bn for 2012, up 62 per cent on 2011 figures. 

Despite this strong growth, the UAE’s dominance is now being challenged, with Saudi Arabia’s interiors and fit-out sector growing twice as quickly over the year and more than doubling in value; up 125 per cent, from $1.55 billion to $3.48 billion, and buoyed by significant government investment in housing, healthcare, education and other infrastructure projects.  

The interiors sector in Qatar and Oman also records significant growth for the year, up 91 per cent to $1.15 billion and 125 per cent to $0.27 billion in 2012 respectively; but it is Kuwait which records the highest GCC market growth, from $0.19 billion in 2011 to $0.65 billion in 2012 – a rise of 242 per cent. This is spurred largely by the retail segment, as Phase III of the Avenues mall nears completion, and sees Kuwait clock the highest retail fit-out spend in the GCC for 2012.

Bahrain was the only GCC market not to record any growth, remaining flat at a forecast value of $0.28 billion.

Fit out and interiors spend across all segments in 2012 – residential, commercial, hospitality and retail – show significant growth from 2011 figures. The GCC’s residential segment still accounts for the largest spend on interiors, set to increase in value from $2.5 billion in 2011 to $3.7 billion in 2012 (up 48 per cent), and accounting for 39 per cent of the overall GCC interior contracting and fit-out market.

Naomi Barton, Index Event Director, said: “The sector in the GCC is now at its highest value since 2008, all segments are seeing marked growth, and all markets are performing well – and many of them exceptionally well. The opportunities for business and employment generation are exceptional and pretty much unrivalled anywhere else on the globe. Given the huge regional market growth and potential, Index International Design Exhibition 2012 responds to the keen demand we’re seeing from the interiors and construction industries for access to the latest designs and trends from renowned interior designers and manufacturers from across the world.”

The Gulf’s burgeoning hospitality segment, recording a whopping 170 per cent growth from $0.63 billion in 2011 to $1.7 billion in 2012, now puts it in second place, and on par with the commercial segment, which doubled in value from $0.85 billion to $1.7 billion over the year. The completion of mall space not just in Kuwait but across the GCC provides the biggest segment boost – with value increasing more than threefold, up 219 per cent from $0.22 billion to $0.7 billion.

Spend on additional projects, including social and business infrastructure projects like airports, hospitals and schools, remains relatively flat in comparison with other segments but still shows a marked uptick of 18 per cent, valued at $1.6 billion in 2012, from $1.35 billion in 2011.

Image from shutterstock

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.