Dubai property witnessing mini-revival: Citi

A mini-revival in the Dubai property market has been driven by “refugee capital”, according to Citibank.

“Dubai's real estate contracting has seen something of a mini-revival recently with developers reporting robust demand in certain segments. We believe this has been driven by 'refugee capital' from buyers facing geo-political risk and currency depreciation in their domestic markets, e.g. India, Iran, Pakistan and Egypt,” the bank said in a Mena construction tracker report.

“While this lends some support to the market we believe development activity is centered on specific buildings rather than large-scale projects. Abu Dhabi has awarded some mega-projects but its pipeline lacks growth,” the report said.

Emaar Properties sold units in The Address The BVLD in a few hours of its launch, while Nakheel collected close to Dh1 billion from sale of Legacy Villas in Jumeirah Park.

Mohammed Al Shaibani, Director-General of The Ruler’s Court, Government of Dubai, and CEO & Executive Director of Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) said on Sunday that Dubai’s strong performance in all key sectors is proof that the emirate quickly recovered from the global financial crisis.

He said Dubai’s real estate has made robust recovery, noticeably the residential sector and property prices in some areas in the emirate had returned to the pre-crisis levels.

“Office units sector is expected to recover completely in the next two to three years,” he said, adding international companies are vying for a place in Dubai, and that explains the competitive prices.

On Sunday, the Dubai Land Department has also revealed that the total value of property transactions in Dubai crossed Dh83 billion in the first nine months of the year. In 2011, a total of 35,297 real estate transactions of Dh143 billion were reported as against Dh123 billion in 2010.

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