In its latest economic brief on the monthly statistics of registered real estate contracts issued by the Ministry of Justice, excluding sales conducted through agents, National Bank of Kuwait reports that real estate sales continued their increase during November, albeit at a slower pace than last month’s rise.
A total of 675 sales transactions were registered at a value of KD 134.5 million, up by 13% and 6.7%, respectively, from last month. Growth in value of sales was led by the apartment and commercial property sector of which sales increased by 34%. The rise in the number of units sold in this sector was a more modest 5.7%. Meanwhile, while the number of residential property sales rose by 13%, the value of sales in this sector was down by 4.5% following a strong month in October.
While average price per unit in the apartment and commercial property sector rose by 27% in November, it declined by 16% in the residential sector. While the average price for all real estate sales was down by 5.2% in November, it was up 8.6% thus far in 2005 compared to the same period last year. Most of the growth in 2005 has been the result of a 39% jump in the average price in the apartments and commercial property, while residential property rose by a smaller 7.1%.
Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) loans declined during November with the number and value of loans approved falling by 25% and 22%, respectively. SCB approved 299 loans in November versus a monthly average of 403 in 2004. Compared with October, the number of loans approved for the purchase of existing homes and the construction of new homes declined by 32% and 22% respectively. The value of loans disbursed was also down, albeit by a smaller degree, declining by 6.8% to KD 18 million. The figure for the year to-date was down by 10% compared with the same period last year.
