UAE Home Prices May Slide 10% to 30% More as Excess Grows
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in the United Arab Emirates, which have fallen by more than half since 2008, may drop by another 10 percent to 30 percent as developers add to supply in Dubai and Abu Dhabi while buyers dwindle.
Prices won’t show “any meaningful recovery” in the next five years, according to Saud Masud, an analyst at Dubai-based Rasmala Investment Bank Ltd. who reiterated a May estimate that values are likely to slip by another 25 percent to 30 percent. A drop of 20 percent was forecast by Arqaam Capital Ltd. in a report earlier this month.
“We have some way to go,” Masud said by e-mail. “Appetite is not consistent and supply is still channeling in.” He said values may reach bottom in 2013.
Developers are completing projects started before the market collapsed, adding to a housing glut as buyers become more scarce. Home purchases in the U.A.E. dropped by 44 percent to 1,459 in the third quarter from a year earlier, CBRE Group Inc. said in an Oct. 17 report. That’s down from 4,059 transactions in the third quarter of 2008, just before the crash.
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ArabianBusiness.com"People who are looking (at the apartment) as an end user or to rent, they are still paying," Mr Rufi told the National. Buyers backing out of their purchases in the face of dropping prices and changing economic situations has been a major problem for International City rents slip below AED15,000all 3 news articles »
