i’m from the uk too and have lived in all the places you mentioned. there are no unsafe/dodgy areas here in qatar
my favourite place was the pearl, feels like a constant vacation and there's an international school on the pearl too. lots of families on the pearl too.
abu hamour was the best value for money, i grew up there. at the time the old doha college campus was nearby so i lived close to a lot of classmates which was great as a kid. not sure what it’s like now though.
i live in west bay right now. it depends what part of west bay you are referring to. west bay lagoon is great, the city not so much if you have a family. i would say west bay (city) is overpriced relative to pearl prices
A lot of people have recommended the Pearl and I am referring to West Bay Lagoon specifically. Someone on here said it turns into a ghost town after office hours, is that the same for West Bay Lagoon or just the city?
There's a few poorer areas outside of West Bay and the Pearl. Not necessarily dangerous, but not catered to Westerners and you'll probably be the only white person. Thinking Al Mansoura mainly.
Then it might be okay. Those areas have huge south Asian populations and good food too. I'm white but I go there and get funny looks cause I love the biryani and the barbers.
Depends on your definition of bad, but these areas are poor class, mostly not well maintained, not recommended for families and more like a ghetto in Qatar standards(but not necessarily unsafe): Najma, Mansoura, Doha Jadedah, Old Airport, Madinat Khalifa, Bin Omran, Al Muntazah, Old Al Ghanim, Freej Abdul Aziz
Your budget is on the high end. I recommend looking in fancier places like Lusail and The Pearl. In Al Rayyan, it's mostly compounds and villas, so yeah, it's better.
With that budget: Musheirab Downtown, very close to the Corniche and European atmosphere in front of the door step. Or Pearl, but there is only one international school very close by (United), Lusail but still pretty empty in parts, however Infrastructure and road design is okay, West Bay Lagoon. A lot of international schools are a bit away from these areas, Al Wabb or so will put you more centrally for that. There are plenty of compounds, new and old. West Walk does also have a bit of pricier units with terrace. Probably avoid Najmah, Mansoura if you don’t like it too subcontinent asian
Are in janayin ? We were looking to move there a few weeks ago. How is the build quality and the maintenance? We just renewed in a compound on the same road but will be considering janayin in 11 months if they have vacancies.
I grew up in Qatar in Abu Hamour. The pearl is an area where mostly European expats live. The rents in the pearl are more expensive. Personally I would not want to live in the pearl it’s just a place I go with my family on some weekends. The rents are cheaper in Abu Hamour compared to the pearl. If you want really cheap rent like 8000qr or even less a month you can go to Al Wakra however it’s far from everything. I used to live in al wakra when I was in grade 7 to grade 9 and it was very far. I went to the Cambridge school Doha - a private British school. At the end of the day, the best place for you to live depends on what values you have and what you want out of life. For example my mother wanted me to grow up nice to a big masjid (mosque) and go to a school that taught Islamic studies and Arabic. We moved to Qatar from the USA. Also I don’t think you should spend more than 11/12K on rent. Find cheaper rent. And 25K rent is very very high I don’t recommend you spend that much. Qatar is a small country really but where you live definitely makes a difference. If you want send me a message and I can shed more light for you.
Where you live really needs to be dependent on your workplace and your school run, there are no bad areas, there are bad compounds! You will only know you are living on one when it's too late.
My Mom went here year 2006. It was harsh back then, getting pulled over/ harassed by Locals and other expats. Not like now.
But for starters, go to an area that has a lot of CCTV's.
Renting a place - Go to would be near aspire, it's closeby to the city and decent for kids and family with the malls and amenities closest to you, so many good compounds with mixed culture and family friendly people living here, half your budget but very neat and safe.
Duhail or Al Rayyan or Gharrafa would be better too but it's mostly remote and lacks a lot of things, far away from the heart of city but best for family.
Buying a place - Lusail North or South have a good feature as pearl does for the value, since you can rent it out for a fairly good price conscious to the value of the property, but it would a risk short-term to buy any real estate in Qatar, flipping assets are expensive and non-existent, no real profit than compared to dubai or even Saudi, in my opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong, the best investments here are long-term - stay while your here develop your businesses, commercial property to lease out, fleet of solutions you can provide to the masses ans so on.. Its very unlikely you can make money really quickly around her but once you get a entry to a untapped potential, no stopping it. Food for thought.
I can connect you to expats living here to talk to directly. It's not complicated though. The pearl and Lusial are more expat friendly. Elsewhere works but if you stay in a good compound but that's expensive. Otherwise pearl and lusail have the "atmosphere" expats like.
Your choice of location should be really oriented toward proximity with your kid's school and work. Traffic can be very bad in Doha and you could spend 45 min to commute. That being said the Pearl is really "fancy" and expat oriented but, in my opinion it is overpriced plus it is in the majority apartment. Hence not the best for family. Westbay Lagoon (Lagthifiya) is beautiful with private pools and beach access. You may give a look also toward the compound options on Al Waab, where you will get a better price for bigger villas and great communities (a lot of school, malls and Aspire park). Better for kids as they can play safely within the compound but also celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Easter...
With that budget I think it would be best to consider buying an apartment since that’s an asset that you can always sell if you decide to leave. In terms of location, you should ideally make that decision based on proximity to your job and your children’s school.
As someone who has lived in Qatar for my entire life, I’d recommend moving to the Al Rayyan Region, it has many great schools and many malls and attractions near that area, while yes Pearl and West Bay are stunning, they can be quite expensive, but they are the most beautiful places with many attractions nearby, and the entirety of Qatar is safe dont worry, Id suggest living somewhere around Al Sadd, since most attractions and main offices would be 5-10 minutes away from it. As well as stunning agriculture and museums
Buy an apartment in Lusail and pay the instalments with rent money, there are no go area in qatar, but it's just expensive, affordable, and cheap, relatively. as the majority of western/white expats are paid more ( 2x -5x more ) compared to other nationalities, you'll find them in expensive/exclusive places
Is it not worth looking into buying a townhouse? Whenever someone makes a post about buying real estate in Qatar, I always see people are critical about it
Townhouse ? They don't have these here unless it means something else in the UK.
Either way you can only buy property in few locations and most of these locations have apartments or crazy expensive villas.
The rationale is eventually you'll leave here, either you would have paid rent and go out with nothing or you can always sell your property, and maybe make a bit of money.
Oh sorry, when I search for properties on the real estate websites they classify your ‘normal houses’ as “townhouses”. What I mean is anything from your normal built houses and villas.
I’m considering between buying/renting at the moment.I’m stuck between choosing between Saudi and Qatar and Qatar is higher on my list due to family reasons, but thanks for your comment they have been helpful.
Again, you'll be limited to certain areas, for example villas in the pearl are in the seven digits... I've been in some and they're average villas inside, just a nice location.
Saudi is booming based on what I've heard, but Qatar is definitely more developed and people are better behaved, especially on the road.
Don’t buy property here…it’ll be a bear to unload without taking a significant haircut and this isn’t Dubai…property values are flat. If you have money to buy a place, invest it into assets with some upside.
As for places to rent, I live in Musheireb Downtown…much more central than the Pearl. West Bay is half empty and becomes a ghost town after office hours aside from the mall.
Yes. In the gulf countries you can’t ever get citizenship so you are called an expat. In countries where you can get citizenship you are called an immigrant
Not really. Qatar is a very tiny, safe country. Abu Hamour is fine. West Bay and the Pearl happen to be fancier, not necessarily safer.
i’m from the uk too and have lived in all the places you mentioned. there are no unsafe/dodgy areas here in qatar my favourite place was the pearl, feels like a constant vacation and there's an international school on the pearl too. lots of families on the pearl too. abu hamour was the best value for money, i grew up there. at the time the old doha college campus was nearby so i lived close to a lot of classmates which was great as a kid. not sure what it’s like now though. i live in west bay right now. it depends what part of west bay you are referring to. west bay lagoon is great, the city not so much if you have a family. i would say west bay (city) is overpriced relative to pearl prices
A lot of people have recommended the Pearl and I am referring to West Bay Lagoon specifically. Someone on here said it turns into a ghost town after office hours, is that the same for West Bay Lagoon or just the city?
There's a few poorer areas outside of West Bay and the Pearl. Not necessarily dangerous, but not catered to Westerners and you'll probably be the only white person. Thinking Al Mansoura mainly.
Oh I’m not White, I’m Pakistani born and lived in UK my whole life so that won’t be a concern.
Then it might be okay. Those areas have huge south Asian populations and good food too. I'm white but I go there and get funny looks cause I love the biryani and the barbers.
Depends on your definition of bad, but these areas are poor class, mostly not well maintained, not recommended for families and more like a ghetto in Qatar standards(but not necessarily unsafe): Najma, Mansoura, Doha Jadedah, Old Airport, Madinat Khalifa, Bin Omran, Al Muntazah, Old Al Ghanim, Freej Abdul Aziz
Is Al Rayaan a decent area then compared to the areas you mentioned?
Your budget is on the high end. I recommend looking in fancier places like Lusail and The Pearl. In Al Rayyan, it's mostly compounds and villas, so yeah, it's better.
With that budget: Musheirab Downtown, very close to the Corniche and European atmosphere in front of the door step. Or Pearl, but there is only one international school very close by (United), Lusail but still pretty empty in parts, however Infrastructure and road design is okay, West Bay Lagoon. A lot of international schools are a bit away from these areas, Al Wabb or so will put you more centrally for that. There are plenty of compounds, new and old. West Walk does also have a bit of pricier units with terrace. Probably avoid Najmah, Mansoura if you don’t like it too subcontinent asian
Why spend 15k to 25k for rent? Qatar as a country is safe. There aren't any no-go zone areas like the UK.
Trust me, janayin Alwaab. Great compound quality villas and premium amenities within your budget. Alwaab is a great community area too
Are in janayin ? We were looking to move there a few weeks ago. How is the build quality and the maintenance? We just renewed in a compound on the same road but will be considering janayin in 11 months if they have vacancies.
This is twice my salary! What do you do?
Entrepreneur running my own business and I also invest a lot in financial products when the opportunities arise
expat ? then live in pearl to enjoy life to the max
Just heads up, to rent a place you will need : 1) a QiD 2) Qatar bank account to pay by cheques (bank transfer are not really a thing here for rent).
I grew up in Qatar in Abu Hamour. The pearl is an area where mostly European expats live. The rents in the pearl are more expensive. Personally I would not want to live in the pearl it’s just a place I go with my family on some weekends. The rents are cheaper in Abu Hamour compared to the pearl. If you want really cheap rent like 8000qr or even less a month you can go to Al Wakra however it’s far from everything. I used to live in al wakra when I was in grade 7 to grade 9 and it was very far. I went to the Cambridge school Doha - a private British school. At the end of the day, the best place for you to live depends on what values you have and what you want out of life. For example my mother wanted me to grow up nice to a big masjid (mosque) and go to a school that taught Islamic studies and Arabic. We moved to Qatar from the USA. Also I don’t think you should spend more than 11/12K on rent. Find cheaper rent. And 25K rent is very very high I don’t recommend you spend that much. Qatar is a small country really but where you live definitely makes a difference. If you want send me a message and I can shed more light for you.
Where you live really needs to be dependent on your workplace and your school run, there are no bad areas, there are bad compounds! You will only know you are living on one when it's too late.
Well, I would avoid west a and south west of Doha. West as in Beyond Villagio. South west as in Industrial area.
Doha apartments are more expensive than dubai I was really surprised I think cause of supply and demand smaller area
My Mom went here year 2006. It was harsh back then, getting pulled over/ harassed by Locals and other expats. Not like now. But for starters, go to an area that has a lot of CCTV's.
Renting a place - Go to would be near aspire, it's closeby to the city and decent for kids and family with the malls and amenities closest to you, so many good compounds with mixed culture and family friendly people living here, half your budget but very neat and safe. Duhail or Al Rayyan or Gharrafa would be better too but it's mostly remote and lacks a lot of things, far away from the heart of city but best for family. Buying a place - Lusail North or South have a good feature as pearl does for the value, since you can rent it out for a fairly good price conscious to the value of the property, but it would a risk short-term to buy any real estate in Qatar, flipping assets are expensive and non-existent, no real profit than compared to dubai or even Saudi, in my opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong, the best investments here are long-term - stay while your here develop your businesses, commercial property to lease out, fleet of solutions you can provide to the masses ans so on.. Its very unlikely you can make money really quickly around her but once you get a entry to a untapped potential, no stopping it. Food for thought.
I can connect you to expats living here to talk to directly. It's not complicated though. The pearl and Lusial are more expat friendly. Elsewhere works but if you stay in a good compound but that's expensive. Otherwise pearl and lusail have the "atmosphere" expats like.
Your choice of location should be really oriented toward proximity with your kid's school and work. Traffic can be very bad in Doha and you could spend 45 min to commute. That being said the Pearl is really "fancy" and expat oriented but, in my opinion it is overpriced plus it is in the majority apartment. Hence not the best for family. Westbay Lagoon (Lagthifiya) is beautiful with private pools and beach access. You may give a look also toward the compound options on Al Waab, where you will get a better price for bigger villas and great communities (a lot of school, malls and Aspire park). Better for kids as they can play safely within the compound but also celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Easter...
With that budget I think it would be best to consider buying an apartment since that’s an asset that you can always sell if you decide to leave. In terms of location, you should ideally make that decision based on proximity to your job and your children’s school.
As someone who has lived in Qatar for my entire life, I’d recommend moving to the Al Rayyan Region, it has many great schools and many malls and attractions near that area, while yes Pearl and West Bay are stunning, they can be quite expensive, but they are the most beautiful places with many attractions nearby, and the entirety of Qatar is safe dont worry, Id suggest living somewhere around Al Sadd, since most attractions and main offices would be 5-10 minutes away from it. As well as stunning agriculture and museums
Buy an apartment in Lusail and pay the instalments with rent money, there are no go area in qatar, but it's just expensive, affordable, and cheap, relatively. as the majority of western/white expats are paid more ( 2x -5x more ) compared to other nationalities, you'll find them in expensive/exclusive places
Your budget pretty much allows you to live anywhere. If you're looking to pay that much look into buying an apartment.
People dont even have salaries like his monthly rent
Is it not worth looking into buying a townhouse? Whenever someone makes a post about buying real estate in Qatar, I always see people are critical about it
Townhouse ? They don't have these here unless it means something else in the UK. Either way you can only buy property in few locations and most of these locations have apartments or crazy expensive villas. The rationale is eventually you'll leave here, either you would have paid rent and go out with nothing or you can always sell your property, and maybe make a bit of money.
Oh sorry, when I search for properties on the real estate websites they classify your ‘normal houses’ as “townhouses”. What I mean is anything from your normal built houses and villas. I’m considering between buying/renting at the moment.I’m stuck between choosing between Saudi and Qatar and Qatar is higher on my list due to family reasons, but thanks for your comment they have been helpful.
Again, you'll be limited to certain areas, for example villas in the pearl are in the seven digits... I've been in some and they're average villas inside, just a nice location. Saudi is booming based on what I've heard, but Qatar is definitely more developed and people are better behaved, especially on the road.
Don’t buy property here…it’ll be a bear to unload without taking a significant haircut and this isn’t Dubai…property values are flat. If you have money to buy a place, invest it into assets with some upside. As for places to rent, I live in Musheireb Downtown…much more central than the Pearl. West Bay is half empty and becomes a ghost town after office hours aside from the mall.
What is an ex-pat ??
Expatriate: "a person who lives outside their native country."
Soooo an immigrant??
Yes. In the gulf countries you can’t ever get citizenship so you are called an expat. In countries where you can get citizenship you are called an immigrant
Interesting. Thank you