A climate of vigilance has been felt in the Kuwaiti real estate sector over the past few months with local investors adopting a watch-and-see attitude and hoping for an early market upturn, a report issued by the Star Economic research company indicated Saturday.
"The market is expected to pick up soon, but it is not likely to reach its 2003 and 2004 levels," the report said, according to KUNA. It added that the real estate sector in its three branches, namely the commercial, the investment and housing ones, was hit by stagnation which was mainly due to the hike in the Kuwaiti Central Bank-imposed discount rate. The last such rise took place last Wednesday with the bank lifting its discount rate by 25 points to 5.25 percent.
