Bahrain dream is now our reality

THE island of a million palm trees’ as it was called by explorers is experiencing a building boom that has Bahrain’s skyline peppered with construction cranes.

High-rise commercial buildings, towering multi-purpose apartment blocks, sprawling beach residences and luxury gated communities are mushrooming all around the island.
“Apart from annual demands to establish banks in Bahrain, we now witness a real construction boom,” said Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa at a recent visit to Kuwait stressing that, “investing in Bahrain offers ample opportunities and steady economic growth.”
Bahrain in the past has focused on developing its economy by establishing itself as a financial services provider given its well developed legal system, regulatory environment, steady economic growth and regional stability.
In addition to being the hub of financial services, it is now working heavily on the promotion of real estate development. And Bahrain’s property market is going from strength to strength as industry analysts are predicting at least a further three years of strong property price growth in the residential market.
One of the major factors in the success of real estate market in Bahrain is that the kingdom employs a large number of expatriate professionals who now have a right to purchase freehold property in certain areas of the island.
According to a royal declaration that was issued in 2001 foreign investors and expatriates living on the island were allowed to buy into new developments marking a giant step forward for Bahrain’s emerging real estate market.
The declaration was fully endorsed and sanctioned in 2003 to include more areas which states that foreign buyers are permitted to buy certain types of property in designated areas of Bahrain.
Freehold ownership law makes it even more attractive for an expatriate to invest considering the type of developments that are coming up from Amwaj Island in the north of the island to Durrat Al Bahrain at the southern tip of the Middle Eastern archipelago.
Gaye Bentham, senior communications manager at Arcapita was one of the first few people to buy not one, but two, properties at Amwaj Islands.
“I bought an apartment and a villa at Amwaj because I believed in the project. Also, after 25 years of living in rented accommodation in Bahrain I wanted to own a property that I could call my home,” says the British expat who has lived out of the UK for most of her life and buying a property in Bahrain gave her the base that she yearned for.
The villa at Amwaj Island is Gaye’s first self-owned home as she did not invest in property in UK and now she feels she can call Bahrain her home in the true sense of the word.
“Earlier I didn’t know about my status in Bahrain, whether I would be here for the long term, but after buying a house things have fallen into perspective. Bahrain will be my retirement home and the apartment is for investment purposes only,” says Gaye who is presently in the process of moving into her new property.
The owner of a freehold property in Bahrain is entitled to a residence permit after extensive clearances and paperwork which is assisted by the property agents and developers.
Jackie and Debbie Beedie are another expat family who has started living in their villa by the sea at the floating city of Amwaj Island.
“It’s absolutely fabulous; my home is my comfort zone away from the city life. We have our boat tethered in our backyard so living here seems like being on holiday,” says Debbie, an executive working for British Airways.
The Beedie home at the Amwaj Island is a well-lit and airy environment and boasts a host of quality fittings and finishing.
They have lived in Bahrain for the last 15 years and this is the first time that they have had the opportunity to buy.
“The property prices are healthy at the moment. Our housing allowance is going towards paying the mortgage of the house and by the time both of us retire the sale of the property will go to our retirement fund,” explained Jackie, sales manager at Al Falak Software Products Division.
The excitement of living in their own home is palpable by the Beedie family’s reaction but a concern voiced by Jackie may set a degree of unease in any Western investors mind.
 “I feel that Bahrain is becoming more restrictive as the government takes a tougher stance on alcohol so there is trepidation about whether we have made the right decision in investing a substantial amount of money here.”
The majority of the expatriates who are buying in Bahrain have homes in their native countries and this is their second home, more of a smart option than anything else.
“Why give money to a landlord and invest in a property that is not ours?” asks Janet Mujtaba. “The hassles of dealing with the landlord and then add the fact that I have redesigned the rented house and invested my time and money in the garden, all of that will remain where it is,” she says.
Janet and her husband, Nadeem, managing director of Gulf Ventures Corporation, married in Bahrain and have bought a spacious home in the lush green of Riffa Views.
“I wish we had had the option of buying 20 years ago,” said Nadeem. He has been in-and-out of Bahrain since 1975 as his parents lived on the island.
Bahrain has been home for the current Mujtaba family for the past seven years and since both their children grew up in the Gulf, this part of the world is home for them.
“So for them calling the Gulf their home but not having their own house was a very funny feeling. So what if mum belonged to the UK and dad was from Pakistan, their childhood memories are of Kuwait and Bahrain. So the children were very excited when we decided to buy, my 16-year old daughter, Sarena more than my 17-year old son, Faraz. In fact, they have already selected their rooms in a house which is due to be completed next May!” laughs Nadeem.
Multi-million dinar projects like Riffa Views, Durrat Al Bahrain, Al Areen, Amwaj Islands, Lu Lu Island, Bahrain Financial Harbour and the likes are challenging projects for the developers especially at the sheer scale that they are planned. And the projects are not isolated cases but involve massive infrastructure planning and construction too.
According to a spokesperson for Amwaj Island, for example, at completion in 2010 the estimated population living at Amwaj Island will be approximately 30,000.
A move into one’s own home marks a new chapter in the lives of many families and individuals. For some in Bahrain that phase of a new challenge has already begun … while others wait for the concrete to set and their dream to materialise.