Real estate activity remained relatively stable in Aug -- NBK

KUWAIT, Sept 25 (KUNA) -- A National Bank of Kuwait report unveiled on Monday that real estate activity remained relatively stable in August, saying that seasonality pulled the monthly sales figure down slightly to KD 154.5 million.
The report added that sales across all sectors totaled KD 1.5 billion year-to-date (ytd), down 5.4% from the same period last year.
The residential sector was particularly strong in 2017, compensating for the subdued activity in the investment and commercial sectors, it noted.
Prices continue to stabilize, though they remain down 5%-10% year-on-year (y/y), according to the report.
It said that 2017 witnessed the resurgence of investor interest in the residential sector, following weaker demand since end-2015.
Year-to-date, sector sales improved by 23% y/y. Over the last eight months, 1,134 homes were sold at an average of 173 home per month, 24% higher than during the same period last year, it said.
Similarly, regained interest in residential land has been noticed in 2017, with 924 plots sold so far; however, it remains substantially lower than the 1,432 plots sold during the first 8 months of 2015, it added.
The report went on to say that despite this improvement, August residential sector sales were soft, recording the lowest monthly sales in almost a year. Since the spike in May 2017, sales have trended down to reach KD 67.2 million in August, which was down by 6.4% y/y. 217 residential transactions were recorded in August, more than two thirds of which were homes, while the rest were plots, it stated.(end).
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