Doha - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
Villas: families with kids or pets get a villa in a compound typically. We love the compound we live in (there are several). The kids can run free with friends, school bus pick up is easy and short ride to school, and all American holidays are celebrated as the compound has a large US population. Halloween is huge! Apartment: single or no kids live downtown in apartments. - Oct 2024
Villas are huge: three floors, maybe2500 square feet or more and your housing will depend on your family size. We have four people in our family and are in a four bedroom with a small maid suite. Villas are within a compound. We love our compound as the kids can run freely, have their friends in the compound, and there is a clubhouse with a pool, gym, restaurant as well as bus pick up at the clubhouse. Compounds are not in the downtown area. Apartments are given to those without kids and without pets. Apartments are in the downtown area. There are a ton of restaurants near and amenities offered it seems in the apartment buildings. - Jun 2024
We live in a compound of villas. The villa is large and has three floors. Laundry is on third floor, along with maid quarters and another bedroom and bath which we use as an office. Second floor has three bedrooms and three bathrooms and first floor is the main living area (kitchen, dining, living room and another bathroom. Higher end finishes and modern appearance. It is about a ten-minute drive from the compound to embassy, depending upon traffic. The staff here is very attentive to fix things. The compound has a gym, small grocery, pool, nursery area, and restaurant. There is a designated walking lane that circles the compound. Bus picks up kids for ASD here daily. There are many expats here. - Oct 2023
Housing is between two compounds (for those with kids) and apartments downtown. Houses (ok villas to be exact) are large. We had a 3-story, 5-bedroom villa. The laundry is up on the 3rd floor (along with a MIL suite and housekeeper's quarters). Housing is fine, but expect little things to constantly break. The good news is the management companies are very quick to send someone out to fix things. - Jul 2022
There are really just two compounds for families. One is better, but in my opinion is far from comfortable. The villas have three levels, and the laundry is in the third level, as is the fourth bedroom. Here rules are different, and a family of six has the same house of a family of four. The ranks are also different, which is good for us, probably not that good for bigger families with higher ranking. Other expats live in really nice villas with a private beach and it is my understanding they say that they pay as much as the three level villas cost. The houses have a really small backyard, and people with older kids seem to like the compound life a lot. I always see kids playing, riding their bikes, playing with their skates, etc., here at the compound, and older kids seem to be happy here. The compounds have pretty good customer service, but in my opinion appliances are not good. Work orders performed by the compound seem to be done quickly. - Apr 2021
The housing is comfortable, and typically quite spacious. Our furnished apartment was great, though it lacked outdoor space. Where you run into trouble is the build quality standards. There aren't any. Even though a lot of the properties in Doha might look fantastic, they constantly have serious issues like bursting and/or leaking pipes, mold, craftsmanship, etc. As one Facilities Manager put it to me "it's a city of finely polished turds." - May 2017
Housing is very nice in general. The rapid growth of the city means that there's a lot of construction, however, and that has encroached on some employees' housing, resulting in noise disturbances at all hours. The housing committee does their very best to make sure that employees are placed in homes that are least effected by this, but it's a difficult nuisance to avoid. - May 2017
full range from apartments to villas, from an hour commute to walk to work - May 2015
There are a huge variety of types and locations of housing here, from apartments to townhouses to "villas." They're spread out across the city, commute times vary from 2 to 45 minutes. Most housing is fairly large, but with very little storage space (and iiittty bitty "closets"). Other than the apartments, the housing is all on compounds. - Feb 2015
Large, comfortable housing in safe compounds with excellent amenities. - Apr 2012
The rich ones live in compounds named Bel Air, Palm Springs, etc., (you get the picture). The not so rich ones live in shabby condos. The poor ones (laborers from Asia) live in tiny tin roof shacks, many without air conditioning. - Mar 2012
My commute isn't bad - 15 or 20 minutes. There is a lot of traffic in the city though, and it's getting worse every year. They are building a new roads infrastructure, but in the meantime the traffic will get even worse has they block off the roads for construction. - Mar 2012
Expats tend to live in gated compounds that are quite swanky, decked out with sparkling pools, gyms, club houses, playgrounds, restaurants, mini marts, etc. Houses are modern and bright. Ours has a lovely garden and patio which our garden maintains for about $40 USD a month. Commute times very. It takes my husband about twenty minutes to get to work. - Jan 2012
Most expats live in compounds. They are provided with all the amenities (gym, swimming pool, playground, supermarket etc.) - Jun 2011
Most everyone lives in compounds. Most are very nice. All Al Afardan compounds are suitable. There are a few others that are nice as well. The villas are quite large, with all-tile floors. No matter what, commutes are horrible. There is constant traffic in Doha. - Oct 2010
Nice villas throughout the city in housing compounds with people that look the same as us but make tremendous amounts of money through their oil companies. Everyone we've met is from Texas and is affiliated with an oil company. Their salaries and glamorous lifestyles make it difficult for government-salaried individuals to play in the same sand box. Villas are big, but the have virtually no closets or storage, so plan accordingly. Bring armoires or storage units. Limited green space. Wonderful children's parks, swimming pools and workout facilities. - Dec 2009
Compounds with others who look like you. If you don't have the government or an oil company paying your rent, forget about it!I heard of one expat renting a room, a single room, in his villa for QR6000 - that's close to US$2,000.Just outrageous. Rich people raise the rents on their properties every year, forcing the rent paying working class to take the kids out of school and send them home because they can't afford to work here and have a family. It's a huge problem. - Sep 2008
