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Qatar seeks to retain privileged investment status in Britain, securing successive achievements across the world

A steady pace of development is reportedly witnessed across the Gulf region for expanding and diversifying investments to accommodate business opportunities that could be up for grab in the build-up to a potential recovery. Under such a bullish atmosphere, it transpires that the Qatari economy boasts the largest level of liquidity among the region’s economies and even in comparison with most of the world countries, a fact which encourages the launch of medium- and large-scale investments at local and global levels to utilise this high-level of cash.

In its weekly real estate report, Al Mazaya Holding said that the Qatari investment sector has achieved noticeable successes over the past period due to its focus on growing opportunities in the real estate sector across the world, acquiring considerable shares at international banks, commercial activities and global brands.

The report noted that the Qatari investments in Britain are constantly growing despite the fast-paced build-up to Brexit, creating different platforms of activities provided by the United Kingdom.

The report added that diversification and expansion of investments create myriad opportunities for growth coupled with potential risks and challenges, with the investments led by the Qatar Investment Authority considerably growing across the British banking and real estate sectors.

The report mentioned that the Qatar’s real estate sector faced recessions by the end of 2015 and 2016 following an unprecedented period of urban expansion created by the execution of a large number of projects across different domains. That state of recession manifested itself in reduced numbers and volumes of real estate transactions specially in terms of land sales which declined by 80 per cent. In addition, the oversupply of residential units pushed rental and sale rates down by 10-20 per cent.

In the meantime, retail spaces in Qatar’s major areas substantially grew over the past few years, and they are projected to rise by 220 per cent by the year 2019. Retail spaces allocated to shopping centres are expected to reach up to 1.3 million square metres over the coming three years, which means that the demand for residential units targeting middle-income segments shall keep growing at the current level, with property developments expected to continue to be launched to provide diverse options matching different budgets.

Additionally, banks’ funding facilities in Qatar help stimulate the property sector by providing different mortgage products to individuals and corporates alike, said the report, noting that mortgage loans during 2016 increased to 6.6 per cent of total credit facilities.

The report highlighted the role played by Qatar’s banks in driving Qatari overseas investments as Qatari citizens are growingly willing to own property across different countries, specially in the British property market where Qatari banks provide different credit facilities up to 70 per cent in line with the Qatari Central Bank’s rules and regulations.

The report highlighted the momentum gained by Qatari investments in Britain where they top the list of Arab investors, comprising more than 8 per cent of the total new property purchases in London, with current data estimating total Qatari investments in Britain at around 30 billion pounds distributed among leading property establishments.

Investment risks in Britain are manageable and predictable, according to the report which adds that Brexit creates new investment opportunities, with Qataris to hold a favourite status to utilise these opportunities thanks to the considerable Qatari cash levels available in Britain, not to mention the accumulated experience gained over the years by Qatari investors. The report mentioned that most of the Qatari investments will target infrastructure enterprises as well as healthcare and InfoTech.

Qatar is expected to pump 5 billion pounds new investments in the next five years into the British economy in different fields, primarily energy, property, real estate and services as well as other fundamental sectors. Such inflows are certainly to create good opportunities for the British economy and help attract more foreign investments to offset the negative consequences of Brexit. Britain plans to turn into a global investment hub contrary to previous projections that the British economy will decelerate as a result of withdrawal from the European Union.

Concluding, the report said the British economy has managed to consolidate its investment status in the EU in a short span of time, gaining fair foothold among major decision-making centres, particularly financial and banking sectors, a prestigious status that Britain will seek to bolster over the coming years, with the GCC states to be among the most beneficiaries thereof.