KES seminar discusses ways to confront real estate inflation

KES seminar discusses ways to confront real estate inflation

By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: Kuwait Economic Society (KES) hosted a seminar titled ‘Real Estate Inflation and Ways to Confront It’ on Monday. Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Real Estate Union Ibrahim Al-Awadhi, Vice President of the Real Estate Brokers Society Emad Haidar and member of the Economic Society Sultan Al-Jazzaf participated in the seminar.

Awadhi said in his opening remarks that the government is unable to keep pace with the number of housing requests, which are increasing day by day. The number of marriages annually reaches 7,000, while housing distributions (excluding the latest distribution in Mutlaa) are only around 2,000 plots, creating a gap between supply and demand, he pointed out.

He added many residential areas have turned to building systems with the knowledge of the government, alluding to the clear reverse migration from the investment real estate sector to residential real estate during the COVID pandemic.

Awadhi indicated the occupancy rate of the residential sector exceeds occupancy in the investment sector considerably, explaining that before COVID, occupancy in the investment sector was around 92 percent. “It has fallen today to 81 percent, with vacancies amounting to around 73,000 apartments, making real estate dealers realize that investing in the investment sector