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During the next two years the land boom continued, prices soared to incredible heights, but
by 1365 (1946) although prices had not fallen there was a decline in the number of important properties
which were bought and sold. Speculation played a great part in the land boom and the same property
was often sold several times in the course of a year or two. Small houses, built for letting, in Manama
were sold for enormous sums and the price of building sites, especially on the waterfront, were com
parable with those obtaining in quite important towns in Britain or the United States. During 1364
sales of property valued at 24$ lakhs were registered in the department. Property which was sold
during the land boom, on an average, fetched six times the price that it had been bought for about
seven years previously. Throughout the war new building was almost impossible and the cost of
adding to or repairing houses was prohibitive, the boom in land values, the cost of building materials
and the urgent demand for houses, especially by British firms who acquired the reputation of not
caring how much they paid, contributed towards the high rents of hired houses.
New arrangements in the courts which aimed at speeding up the hearing of cases relieved the
Land Department of a quantity of old land disputes which had been accumulating for some time and
by the end of 1364 scarcely any pending cases remained. During the year the department dealt with
the compensation to a number of garden owners for ground along the Manama—Rudam-al-Kawari
road which was acquired by the Government when the road was widened.
In 1365 the number of transactions which were registered was 750 of which 543 were sales,
the sum involved in the sales was Rs. 28,47,500, registration fees collected by the department amount
ed to Rs. 57,800. Included in these sales were a date garden at Kerzakkan which was bought for
Rs. 50,500, land, which used to be a swamp, on the south edge of Manama which was sold for
Rs. 2,05,000, a large godown in Manama bazaar which fetched Rs. 80,000 and the Ferook House, a valu
able site containing a large indifferent building which was purchased for Rs. 1,60,000. Speculation
in small houses for letting received a set-back owing to a rent restriction law which was introduced
during Ramadhan, this fixed the rent of houses at 4% of the present value and a committee was
appointed to assess the present value of house property. Landlords regard the rate of 4% as a small
return on their investment, which is true in the case of houses built during the war, but these are
few, and as the majority of leased houses were built before the war and are now worth about three
times their prewar value, the return on such houses works out at about 12%.
During the year the Government acquired by exchange two small lakes and. the surrounding
ground on the western edge of Manama town from Hassan-al-Gosaibi. It is proposed that a public
garden shall be made at this place as a substitute for the municipal garden which is now so surrounded
by houses that it has lost much of its old popularity.
Land Registration 1346—1365.
Year. No. of Registrations.
1346 1927- 28 280
1347 1928- 29 357
1348 1929- 30 464
1349 1930- 31 394
1350 1931- 32 575
1351 1932- 33 444
1352 1933- 34 443
1353 1934- 35 537
1354 1935- 36 545
1355 1936- 37 756
1356 •1937-38 5i6
1357 1938- 39 710
1358 1939- 40 573
1359 1940- 41 457
1360 1941 837
1361 1942 923
1362 1943 87r
1363 1944 738
1364 1945 941
1365 1946 750
20 years, Total .. 12,in