We can safely agree that the real estate market of the GCC region has witnessed many critical changes in the recent years, and 2018 was no exception. These changes have been stimulated by preceding pivotal shifts in the socioeconomic landscape of the region’s countries; such changes included the drop of oil prices, and the region’s general direction towards localizing its jobs and developing non-petroleum economic sectors.
The Kingdom of Bahrain has specially experienced many major changes in the last year; for this reason, we decided to make a list of our most important insights of the Bahraini property market this year and what resounded with our readers the most:
- RERA:
Arguably the largest key update that took place in Bahrain’s property market last year; Real Estate Regulation Authority of Bahrain (RERA Bahrain) was launched on March 1, 2018 with the purpose of regulating the work of realtors and developers as well as issuing their work licenses.
This insight provides all the information you need to know about the governmental organization and its primary goals:
All about RERA
2. Reef Island:
The artificial island is considered as one of, if not the most expensive area to live in in Bahrain. This can be attributed to the island being self-sufficient as it houses all the services and facilities its residents need, as well as being home to some luxurious destinations, hotels and resorts.
For all these reasons, we decided to make a full guide that is as detailed as possible for the island:
Reef Island guide
3. Salman Town:
As the biggest social housing project in the entire Kingdom of Bahrain, Salman Town was launched in May 2018 with a location that spans the area of 10 artificial islands north of the kingdom’s capital Manama. Upon its completion, the town will house 15,000 affordable housing units that can accommodate up to 90,000 citizens of the kingdom.
In the following article, we put out all the details known so far on Salman Town project and its progress which we are keeping an eye on for any updates in the future:
Salman Town Project
4. Bahraini neighborhoods with most affordable rentals:
As a small country where the expats constitute the majority of its population, there is a growing demand on properties with affordable rentals in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
For this reason, this article we made on the areas in Bahrain with the most affordable rental options and how much they cost on average has been one of our most read publications this year and it deserved a spot in our highlights list:
Areas in Bahrain with affordable rentals
5. Gulf Property Show 2018:
As the boutique showcase for the real estate and property development sectors in the Northern Gulf region, the summer edition of Gulf Property Show this year has achieved major success in terms of the numbers of both the visitors, developers and showcased projects, and the total sales value.
For that, we decided to take a closer look on the three-day event and the most significant participations in it:
About Gulf Property Show 2018
6. How to spot real estate bubbles:
If the whole 2007 global financial crisis, how it started and what it has to do with the real estate market confuse you, it is totally normal. That is why we made this detailed article that will help you understand the concept of real estate bubble and how it was the main contributor to the crisis that shook the world almost a decade ago:
What is a real estate bubble
7. Adliya property guide:
A bohemian neighborhood that is known as Manama’s dining district, Adliya is known as the most lively entertainment hub of the Bahraini capital. The area does not only house a lot of renowned restaurants that range from serving fast food to multiple international cuisines, it also houses two of the most famous art galleries in the island kingdom: Al Bareh and Al Riwaq.
Adliya is considered one of the most sought-after real estate investment destinations in Bahrain, and the following guide of it explains why:
Adliya Guide
8. Obstacles of investment in Bahrain:
According to the report issued by the World Bank in 2017, the Kingdom of Bahrain is the 66th easiest country in the world to start business in. This is an advanced rank in comparison with other countries’ in the same region, and Bahrain has scored high ranks in multiple sub-indicators.
However, there have also been some obstacles that prevent the kingdom from achieving its full potential as a trade hub and an investment environment, which the Bahraini government is working on right now.
For more on this, take a few minutes to read our detailed report on these indicators:
Investment Obstacles in Bahrain
9. Bahrain’s future tourism projects:
The Bahraini economy was found to be the fastest growing economy in the GCC in 2017, and Tourism had been its fastest growing economic sector during that year. Therefore, upcoming tourism and hospitality sectors in the island kingdom has been on the receiving end of the growing attention of key global investors. Here is a list of the most anticipated 7 tourism projects in Bahrain:
Bahrain top tourism projects
10. VAT impact:
Most of the GCC countries have levied Value-added Tax (VAT) at the beginning of the current year, and there have been a lot of speculations regarding the possible results and consequences of that on the investment environment of the region. We demonstrate these potential results in the article below:
VAT Effect
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