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.
