Monday, November 12, 2007

Rising rents

recently we were informed by the building haris that rents in our building will be increased by kd 35!
rents all across kuwait have gone up for residential apartments. but has this increase really been because of 'market forces' and 'demand'?
the way i look at it, the number of people in kuwait has increased...albeit a little bit. but i just get a feeling that these rent increases have been just because the land lord wanted more money.
it's not as if the buildings are maintained and kept in excellent condition, so it should not matter even if maintenance costs have gone up. nor does the land lord pay for electricity or water, so no bother for him there either.
the main reason why people are paying such high rent is mainly because they have to, and not because they want to (which would not be the case had this increase in rents been due to real market forces).
there are loads of buildings that are there lying empty, so there is no problem of supply. since the last six months there has been a building on mugheera street that is going for rent - kd 350 for a 2 bedroom apartment !
i am searching for some global data to conduct a comparison of rental rates - i have a hunch that one might be able to rent a similar apartment in some beautiful european country at the same rate.

Labels: ,

3 Comments:

  • its the weirdest thing ever don;t you think, so many new buildings, so many availabilities and yet rent goes up when it should be going down.
    what do you expect, everything in kuwait works in mysterious ways

    By Blogger Zed, at 10:07 am  

  • Well i live on the Mugera st ! and its crazy out there ! Flats are being rented while still under construction , finally i found one but the Haras is asking 'gift money' just as much as the rent and 10 KD everymonth as Garbage and Car wash , its not only the Building owners that are robbing even the Haris .

    By Blogger Grey, at 10:43 am  

  • 'gift money' aka 'finders fees' - dunno why they call it that! the tenant finds the apartment, not the haris!
    one month's rent is very less...i know people cough up more than that for pigeon holes.
    as far as money for garbage and carwash is concerned...its just a scam!!!

    By Blogger Razaldo, at 3:04 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home