RELATED ARTICLES: Qatar Diar begins work on Tozeur project in Tunisia | Al Futtaim Group Real Estate announces $1bn loan facility for Doha Festival City | Hill International awarded $12.6mn in Qatar project management contracts Real-estate market operators in Qatar expect land prices to stabilise by the end of 2014, according to a recent report. Land prices have increased by almost 52 percent in 2014. Once stability returns to the market, however, prices will continue to gradually increase due to the ongoing mega projects in development in the country, The Peninsula of Qatar reported. “These are the highest land prices we are presently seeing,” said Mansoor Al Mansoor, a real estate expert quoted in the article. “However, as land prices stabilise, we hope that house rent increases may be restricted to within the 10 percent range by this year-end and next year.” Due to escalating land rates, the cost of construction has grown by almost 30 percent, negatively impacting the residential and commercial rental markets, he said. Real estate transactions in Qatar totalled a record $7.11 billion in the first half of this year, according to official data, showing a growth of 19.3 percent over the same period in 2013.