UAE property market sees greater buyers’ inclination

ALKESH SHARMA /
Emirates Business

UAE’s real estate industry is gradually bouncing back, especially sale-purchase segment. Market pundits have observed a good rise in the property buyers’ interest that has been recorded at maximum levels in the last couple of years.
Industry experts maintained that upcoming mega events in the region, including Expo 2020 and FIFA World Cup, have fuelled the market and added to the confidence of the buyers.
“Property market has been very volatile in the UAE and like any industry, it keeps fluctuating. However, economy’s reducing dependence on oil and a big-time diversification of non-oil sectors have boosted buyers’ confidence and stimulated them to make fresh investment in real estate sector. Besides new buyers, most of the old customers are showing keenness in converting the pending contracts into actual purchase deal,” Imran Khan, Managing Director of Dubai-based Market Watch, a real estate firm dealing in renting and selling of residential units in the Emirates, told Emirates Business.
“Though renting is still dominating the property market, if we compare it with the purchasing activity. But that is natural in this country, which is home to over 200 nationalities and not every expat wants to buy property,” stated Khan, whose company is venturing into Oman real estate market by the year-end.
As per a recent survey report, property prices have plunged in many areas of the UAE by upto 35 percent in last one year and intelligently timing the deal of the purchase has remained the
key to get the best pricing in the market.
According to the UAE-based online portal property finder.ae, customer’s interest has reached its peak level since 2014, increasing by upto 28 percent since January.
“February and March 2016 saw a noticeable increase in buyer interest. Buyers represented 29 percent of total enquiries to the site,” said Lukman Hajje, Chief Commercial Officer of propertyfinder.ae, country’s most heavily visited property site.
Hajje added, “In April, this increased further to 31 percent and has continued to increase. For the first half of May, buyer enquiries represented over 32 percent of total enquiries. This is a significant shift from January and is the highest level of buyer interest we have seen since mid-2014.”
However, year-2015 could not be considered a phase of strong sales market as prices fell consistently; only 28 percent of total enquiries made on propertyfinder.ae were for properties advertised for sale, pointed out Hajje.