Property in Qatar: nine freehold zones and sixteen with 99-year usufruct

Before 2018 a foreigner in Qatar could buy at exactly three addresses. Law No. 16 of that year rewrote the rules and split the country into three parts: zones where a foreigner gets full ownership, zones where they get a 99-year usage right, and everything else, where they are sold nothing. Working out which of the three a specific house sits in is the first question about any Qatari property.

Nine full-ownership zones

In nine designated zones a foreigner receives freehold — ownership without a term, with the right to sell, gift and bequeath. These are predominantly new master plans and the Doha business centre: an artificial island with marina districts, the western bay coastal areas, the district around the new satellite city, a northern resort zone, a business quarter by the port.

• The right is perpetual — the same as a citizen's, with the same registration procedure.
• Inheritance follows general rules; the property does not lapse on the owner's death.
• Sale is free, including to another foreigner.

Sixteen zones with 99-year usufruct

In a further sixteen districts — mainly established quarters of old Doha — a foreigner can obtain a usage right for 99 years. Legally that is not ownership: the land has another owner, and you hold a long fixed-term right which can be sold and mortgaged but which ends.

• 99 years is the term of the right, not a lease from a neighbour.
• The right is registered and tradeable, but on expiry it does not automatically convert into ownership.
• For a buyer with a one-generation horizon the difference is barely noticeable; for passing to children and grandchildren it is material.
• The price of a usufruct should not equal the price of a freehold. If it does, you are being sold a fixed-term right at the price of a perpetual one.

What ownership gives: status in the country

Qatar has linked property to the right of residence. Owning a property above a statutory threshold gives the owner and their family residency, valid while the ownership persists. A higher threshold opens an extended status with access to state healthcare and education on terms close to a resident's.

• The status is tied to the property. Sell it and the basis for residence disappears — that is what distinguishes such a visa from a work visa.
• The threshold is measured against a valuation of the property, not against a figure the parties agree to write in the contract.
• No employer sponsorship is required — which is exactly why owners' status is valued by people not employed in the country.

How the Qatari market differs from Dubai's

The main difference is size and depth. Qatar's population is several times smaller than the UAE's, transaction volume is correspondingly lower, and exiting a property does not take weeks.

The second is the composition of demand: in Dubai the buyer pool is drawn from the whole world, in Doha the share of local and regional demand is higher and the market reacts more strongly to domestic decisions.

The third is data. The Qatari register does not offer the completeness on each transaction that the Dubai Land Department accustoms you to, and checking a price against an open source is harder.

What to check before a deposit

• Which zone the property is in and what exactly is being sold — freehold or 99 years. That should be written in the contract in words, not implied.
• Whether the valuation meets the threshold, if the purchase is being made for status.
• Who manages the complex and what maintenance costs — on artificial islands that line is comparable to property tax in other countries.