Bahrain: Real-Estate Sector Slowed Down

With the events that shook the world in 2008-2009 and subsequent 2011 uprising, Bahrain’s real-estate sector saw drying of liquidity, followed by a real-estate downturn. Aaref Hejres, Managing Director of DIYAR AL MUHARRAQ, explains the current situation in the real estate sector.

He argues: “When we started this project, it was to cater to the local market as our first market. There is a real demand in Bahrain, especially for affordable homes. The Bahrain market is healthy and is not based on speculators. We did not have a speculation trend even before 2008. All of these elements give us good reasons to move forward with the project, having the demand as our baseline.”

As for the industry challenges such as financing and liquidity, Hejres sees adequate availability of financing.  

“Financing is available in Bahrain or the world generally. The funding is there and the projects are there but people are more cautious now than before. That has slowed the frequency or speed of the real estate industry. We are not worried about this. If you have the money and financing then that’s a positive. Most of the developers in Bahrain have not supplied the market with extra units or extra product. The good thing is Bahrain is going in a steady direction with certain units every year and I think that’s a healthy practice,” he adds.

“We don’t have a phenomena of projects lacking funding. Maybe one or two but that’s the odd case and this is happening everywhere. But you cannot say this is the theme or the pattern of a country because I think in any country there is a project that’s been stopped. This is healthy and this is common. In Bahrain we have one or two projects that I know of that have been stopped or more accurately, delayed or rescheduled,” Hejres concludes.