Oversupply of housing units unlikely this year

Dubai is expected to receive a “very limited” supply of properties this year, believes a top property developer.
 
“I am expecting very limited supply to come into the market… there isn’t that much supply. We are in construction field as well and we haven’t been getting any orders for the last three to four years,” Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum, President, Al Fajer Properties, told Emirates 24|7.
 
Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate consultancy, said in April that Dubai is expected to see completion of close to 28,000 new units by 2011-end, bringing total residential stock to 338,000.

UBS, the biggest Swiss bank, said last year that it estimated housing supply by end of 2011 to be roughly 360,000 with oversupply potentially at 150,000 residential units.
 
“I don’t believe the numbers by any party outside the Land Department to be reliable… I still expect very limited supply to come into the market,” he reiterated without refering to any particular report/consultancy.
 
Last year, Sheikh Maktoum had said that a maximum of 10 per cent of the 1,280 projects announced in 2008 in Dubai will be delivered till 2020.
 
“I believe there will be a 90 per cent reduction from the original planned supply into the market by 2020, which is a positive thing for real estate prices,” he revealed.
 
A senior official of a government entity told this website that nearly 6,000 new units have been completed and have either been handed over or are in the process of being handed and the question of oversupply is not there at all.
 
Questions mailed to the Dubai Land Department were not answered till the time of publishing of the article. It is, however, understood that the department is expected to make an official announcement on new supply figures soon.
 
In March, Real Estate Regulatory Agency CEO Marwan bin Ghalita said 220 projects were moving forward and they were constantly evaluating projects. Earlier, he had said that over 220 projects had been cancelled and the number was expected to rise this year.

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