Damac Chairman to speak at the first Kuwaiti Real Estate Forum

The Kuwait First Real Estate Forum Meeting will be taking place at the Al Masyah Hall in Sheraton Hotel, Kuwait on April 13 and 14, 2008 under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Kuwait Prime Minister.

The forum is the first of its kind in Kuwait where members of the Government, Parliament and Investment firms will meet together to address Kuwait real estate market current market issues, challenges and the way forward.

Commenting on the event, Sajwani said:

We are very pleased to be part of this event; there is no doubt that this forum is going to be a great venue to discuss all industry strategic issues not only at the local level, but on how to attract foreign investments.

We believe the forum is a great opportunity for the private sector to share with the government the challenges facing the industry and exchange points of best practise. Kuwait's real estate sector has been the outstanding non-resource performer in Kuwait in recent years and possibly the most rewarding market for Kuwaiti investors. Property transactions recorded in April 2007 were the highest ever, totaling $1.1bn, up 85% on the previous year, he added.

The real estate sector has been the outstanding non-resource performer in Kuwait in the recent years and possibly the hottest market for Kuwaiti investors.

Property transactions recorded in April 2007 were the highest ever, totaling $1.1bn, up 85% on the previous year.

Much of this can be attributed to rapid population growth and significant demographic changes.

The property market, as a whole, has experienced unprecedented expansion as oil revenues flood into some of the 270 new towers and projects crowding Kuwait city's urban centres - mainly in Sharq, Kuwait City, Salmiya, Hawally and Fahaheel.

The demand for low and middle-income housing has grown at a strong pace, pushed in a large part by the growing number of foreign workers who make up the majority of the country's workforce. However, like elsewhere in the GCC, there is noticeable emphasis on building luxury units in Kuwait and this is where Damac Properties specialise in, said Sajwani.


The real estate sector in Kuwait have witnessed a big jump in the investment in the last few years and have helped on moving number of other economic sectors through the successful policies, strategies and the experiences of tangible result, but on the other hand we find that there are some factors affecting the sector starting from the most prominent of the absence of coordination between related devices organized real estate enact regulations and laws as well as the lack of an integrated vision between official and the real estate sector, which led to the existence of problems and some of the negative aspects that have affected the march in the real estate sector in the right direction, said Engineer Fouad Al Weheb,

The lack of available land has also driven up prices and value of transactions. The vast majority of the land in Kuwait is owned by the government, with estimates ranging as high as 95%.

The scarcity of supply has sent costs skyrocketing. According to figures from Alargan, a Kuwait-based property developer, land accounts for over 50% of the cost of a finished project, far higher than the standard 15 to 25% range.

Souad Al-Haroun, General Manager of Kuwait Expo, said: The importance of this forum to be the exchange of views and proposals between officials of the government and the industries specialists in the real estate private sector, also to reach a common vision on the problems of lack of coordination and integration of information between the private sector and government agencies, in order to access to the mechanisms and methods Effective push work and increase real estate investment opportunities, to achieve the desired goals of the State and the private sector real estate without prejudice to the interests and mutual benefits.