A shortage of residential units in the market coupled with the increasing construction costs have caused a significant rise in house rents over the past six months, say industry sources.

Rents have gone up by 10 to 20 percent despite a presumed lull in recruitments by leading companies and corporations and a subsequent fall in the number of high-salaried professionals arriving in the country, say experts.

Most landlords are hiking the prices as they renew the tenancy contracts and the tenants have been forced to shell out, in the absence of cheaper alternatives in the market.

"There is a shortage of residential units and new projects are not coming up mainly due to a lull in allotment of lands," Ahmed Al Arouqi, a real estate analyst told this daily yesterday.

"Land prices remain very high and there are no new allotments. No new areas have been earmarked for construction," he added.

He said the increasing construction costs, especially the land price, has caused the rents to shoot up by at least 10 percent since the beginning of this year.

According to latest data, a square foot of land in central Doha cost as high as QR2075, while property prices have also gone up, with a one-bed flat in some areas in the city being sold at QR1m.

Many landlords are not willing to rent out their properties to individuals, which, he said, is an additional factor creating an artificial shortage.

"Everyone is looking for a single corporate customer to avoid dealing with many tenants," said Al Arouqi. An expert working with a leading real estate company said that house rents have gone up by 10 to 20 percent since the middle of last year. [Read more on The Peninsula]