Kuwait sales fall by 28%

Kuwait property sales fell almost 28 per cent in the year to June, official data showed, the third month of decline after the state restricted private firms from residential real estate deals to tackle record inflation.

Inflation in the Gulf Arab oil producer jumped to 10.14 per cent in February driven mainly by a 16.1 per cent rise in housing costs.

The government introduced regulations earlier this year to forbid private companies from buying and selling residential units in the Gulf state to try to control real estate prices – a move analysts have said would be difficult to fully enforce.

Still, residential property deals dropped almost 62 percent in the year to June, government data obtained by Reuters showed yesterday.

Total real estate deals in Kuwait – including residential, investment and commercial but excluding storages – fell to 176.93 million dinars (Dh2.4bn) on June 30 from 245.69m dinars a year earlier, the data showed.

In May, Kuwait’s real estate sales had fallen 36 per cent year on year.

Sales of residential units, which account for the biggest proportion of total real estate transactions, slid to 54.20m dinars in June from 142.43m dinars a year earlier, the data showed.

Meanwhile, total commercial property deal soared 150 per cent to 53.4m dinars, while investment property sales slowed 15.3 per cent to 69.4m dinars. The total number of deals fell to 429 in June from 910 a year earlier, the data showed.

Kuwait’s central bank governor urged the government last month to give away more land to citizens to curb inflation. More than 90 per cent of land in Kuwait is owned by the state.

The oil producer could influence supply by “providing more land to bring down the cost of housing and storage services,” Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al Sabah told Reuters in June.