The head of the Saudi investment group, Tanmiyat, Suleiman al-Majed, said that the real estate sector is going through a stage of fast growth, since the Gulf region is considered among the world's fast growing regions after Shanghai, reported the Bahraini newspaper Al-Ayyam on April 7, 2005.
Al-Majed was speaking in the eighth symposium for urban planning hosted by the Emirate of Sharjah with the attendance of more than 400 experts, in addition to many mayors and municipal officials from 27 Arab, European and American states.
Al-Majed mentioned that the huge real estate projects accomplished recently in the Gulf countries were carried out mainly by the private sector, unlike the situation in previous years, when governments were main investors in this field.
He added that investments by Gulf investors play the most important role in the Middle East real estate sector at present, and expressed his opinion that this tendency will continue thanks to the mutual interests of businessmen in the region. However, he did not expect European companies to become an active player in this sector during the next few years.
