commerce Bahrainthismonth.com September 2023 67 BAHRAIN REAL ESTATE MARKET MOMENTUM IN Q2 2023 OVER 14,000 CITIZENS EMPLOYED DURING FIRST HALF OF 2023 Minister of Labour and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), HE Jameel bin Mohammad Ali Humaidan, has stated that 14,163 citizens have been employed between January and June at the rate of 71 percent within the economic recovery plan, which amounts to 20,000 hiring operations annually. This has been achieved by attracting more job-generating investments, enhancing the work environment, diversifying training and qualification policies, and providing many advantages and incentives for the private sector so Bahrainis are the preferred choice for recruitment in the labour market. “In addition, the number of citizens benefiting from various training programmes reached 7,237 trainees, which constitutes 72 percent of the declared goal of training 10,000 Bahrainis annually as part of the Economic Recovery Plan,” he states. Wages in the private sector witnessed an increase of 6.3 percent, following the launch of several initiatives aimed at increasing the wage support and improving the level of wages of new employees in the private sector. According to the Savills Q2 2023 Bahrain Property Market in Minutes update, Bahrain’s economy saw an increase of 4.9 percent in 2022, the country’s strongest growth in more than nine years, propelled by non-oil sectors that remained robust in 2022. Head of Professional Services at Savills in Bahrain, Hashim Kadhem, says: “Bahrain’s residential and commercial property sectors have benefitted from a raft of positive policy measures, including the Economic Recovery Plan, the issuance of the Golden Licence, and the national jobs plan.” In the Residential Sales Market, capital values have remained at the same level during the second quarter, and rates are estimated at BHD603 per sqm. Where Office Sales and Rental is concerned, rental prices have increased by 1.6 percent Q-o-Q across the high-end segment, at an average value of BHD6.5 per sqm due to the ongoing relocation of corporate occupiers to grade A developments. Despite the stability of rents across the mid-end segment on a quarterly basis, they have increased annually by 9.1 percent at an estimated BHD6 per sqm. “This annual increase in rents signifies the scarcity of space across the high-quality developments as well as the ongoing demand from corporate occupiers to lease space across such projects,” says Associate Director – Research, Savills Middle East, Swapnil Pillai. Retail rental rates have fallen by an average of seven percent to BHD10 per sqm against the backdrop of the sector’s ongoing recovery from the effects of the pandemic. Furthermore, the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EBD) has taken several measures to diversify the economy away from oil, and there has been a significant effort to attract industrial tenants and operators into the Kingdom. This has provided greater stability to rents in the industrial warehousing sector with the average monthly rent for medium units currently at BHD 2.8 per sqm, and BHD 2.7 per sqm for large units.
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