An increasing number of tourists from the Arabian Peninsula visits BiH. Lately, it is not rare that they buy real estate in order to spend summer holidays in BiH. However, they state that they are facing numerous obstacles.
Bejaad al-Hajer is from Kuwait, and few years ago, he bought a house in the village Dobrosevici in Sarajevo. Since then, he spends every summer in this house with his family, surrounded by neighbors from Kuwait and the Gulf states.
“I have visited many countries in Europe, but I have not found in those countries what I found in BiH. Important factors when choosing BiH are certainly security, excellent air and freedom that we feel here. These are the reasons why I bought this house and why I spend my summers in Sarajevo,” he said.
Hajer is not the only one from that part of the world who decided on such a move.
“In Dobrosevici is one of the settlements that have been built specifically for tourists from the Arabian Gulf. Because of the high demand in recent years, the number of such settlements around Sarajevo is increasing,” said Harun Karcic, journalist of Al Jazeera.
The investor from Kuwait, Dhaifallah Nahar al-Otaibi, whose company built the settlement in Dobrosevici, says that all units are sold out and they are working on new projects. However, if the citizens of the Arabian Gulf are looking to buy real estate in BiH, due to the lack of reciprocity in the acquisition of property ownership between BiH and these states, there are certain obstacles. Until the bilateral agreements do not get signed, the only way you can buy the real estate is through the establishment of companies. But it increases their costs and create administrative barriers.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations said that this problem is not specific only to BiH. A lawyer who was contacted said that establishment of companies in order to purchase real estate is not illegal, but it is the only legal way for them to come into possession of real estates.
Despite the obstacles, economic analyst Dzenan Kulovic believes that the purchase of these real estates has the potential to revitalize BH real estate market.
The number of tourists from the Gulf countries is growing from year to year. In this moment, no one can tell how worth are their investments in BH real estates with certainty, nor it is known when BiH will sign bilateral agreements with their countries, by which the possession of real estate in BiH would become easier and there would be possibility for owning property in their countries by BH citizens. However, one thing is certain – the number of tourists from this part of the world is growing from year to year, as well as their interest in real estate in our country.
(Source: Al Jazeera)
