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Kuwait City : Kuwaiti real estate sales fell about 35 per cent in April, official data showed on Wednesday, the first decline in months after the government restricted residential property trading in a bid to curb record inflation.
Inflation jumped to a record 9.5 per cent in January, driven mainly by a 16.1 per cent rise in housing costs.
The value of all real estate deals - including residential, investment and commercial property but excluding storage - was around 206.03 million dinars ($772.7 million) in April compared to 316.75 million dinars a year ago.
Global Investment House analyst Walid Samer said the fall might help the central bank to dampen inflation though the coast of food imports was also a big factor in prices.
Kuwait dropped its dollar peg in May 2007 and adopted a currency basket to reduce the cost of non-dollar imports. It pays for a third of its imports in euros.
"Inflation will not fall but might stagnate," Samer said. He said a new law restricting trading in residential property was the main reason for the drop in sales after real estate sales jumped 15 per cent in March.
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