Qatar's Barwa Real Estate, one of the Gulf Arab state's largest listed developers, reported an 80 per cent fall in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday.

Barwa made a net profit of QR651 million ($178.82 million) in the three months to March 31, it said in a statement.

This compares with a profit of QR3,255 million n the prior-year period, when Barwa's earnings were boosted by the sale of real estate worth QR2.7 billion riyals.

Qatari Diar, a real estate-focused unit of sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority, owns 45 per cent of Barwa. – Reuters