Qatar is the best place in the world for expats under 35 years old who want to save up to buy their first home, newly-released results from HSBC’s annual Expat Explorer survey show.

The report, which surveyed 22,000 expats of different nationalities in over 100 countries, found that 31 percent of the young expats it questioned in Qatar had bought their first home while living here.

The UAE came in second place, with 25 percent of young expats reporting that they could now afford to buy their first property.

The two main reasons this was possible is because of housing allowances from employers, which 68 percent of those surveyed in Qatar received, and higher average wages than in expats’ home countries, with 71 percent of young expats here reporting an increase in earnings after moving.

However, other reports this year have pointed to rising housing and school tuition costs as reasons why saving money is becoming harder for many Qatar residents.

All ages

The HSBC expat survey also asserted that the financial benefits of living in Qatar are not limited to only under-35s.

According to the report, over three-quarters (76 percent) of those questioned in Qatar said their disposable income had increased as a result of moving, the highest percentage of all countries surveyed, while 75 percent said they had been able to save more in Qatar than at home.

Meanwhile, 24 percent of Qatar-based expats of all ages said they’d been able to buy a new property, and more than half (54 percent) said they could now enjoy more expensive holidays.

Among all expats of all ages and in all countries, Bahrain was found to be the country where most (30 percent) said they were able to afford an additional property while working there, with Saudi Arabia coming in second with 27 percent.

A mixed picture

The findings on young expats were released this week as a supplement to the Expat Explorer report 2015, which was published in September.

At that time, Qatar was given an overall ranking of 22nd out of 39 countries, a significant drop in the rankings from 13th place last year.

Though the Gulf country ranked highly in the economics section of the report, it fell further down the list due to lower scores relating to the overall quality of life, health, culture and social integration.

Only Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil, Egypt and Kuwait got lower scores in such areas.

Thoughts?