Bahrain’s residential sector has recorded about 6,200 freehold villas on the market as of the fourth quarter of 2019, marking a continued rise in villa supply, a new report from CBRE, the global real estate service and investment firm, has found.
According to the report, this existing supply, targeting mid- to high-end buyers, is spread across a total of 40 projects, ranging from waterfront, gated communities or non-gated villas. An additional 10 projects are currently under development, which will see an extra 5,150 units enter the market when completed.
These new properties are expected before the end of 2025 and will boost stock levels by 83% to 11,350 units, further strengthening the Kingdom’s residential real estate market for buyers and investors.
“With the local real-estate market continuing to display niche development opportunities in the residential sector, we are optimistic to witness a healthy environment for investments from both local, regional and international buyers in 2020,” said James Lynn, head of Strategic Advisory at CBRE Bahrain.
Currently, the most sought-after properties are gated community villas, which performed well in Q4 of 2019 with the sales rates increasing to $1,818 per sqm.
The sales price gap between waterfront and gated community villas has closed year-on-year; this is likely due to buyers being unprepared to pay a premium for property in waterfront locations as well as the availability of more affordable options entering the market during Q4 2019.
The report also reveals that three-bedroom villas had the highest average sales rates in Q4 2019 across this asset class, which were quoted for $1,817 per sq m. This was followed closely by four-bedroom villa pricing which represented the second highest asking rates in the Bahrain residential sector.