Mubasher: Real estate sales in Kuwait stood at KWD 789 million ($2.592 billion) in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019, recording a quarter-on-quarter decline.

The decline stemmed from a drop in investment sector sales following reaching a four-year high level in Q4-18, according to a report released on Saturday by the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).

“Decent sales levels in 1Q-19 reflect a continuation of the recovery observed in 2018 and an indication that market confidence and liquidity is intact. Real estate prices, however, were mixed, the report added.

Residential sales grew 2% QoQ, and 26% YoY, to KWD 377 million in the first three months of 2019.

Meanwhile, Commercial sector sales went up 46% YoY to KWD 161 million in Q1-19.

“Strong sales were due to some exceptionally large size deals, which nearly doubled the average transaction size of 1Q18,” the NBK’s data showed.