Marking an all-time quarterly high, the value of Dubai buildings that saw their construction conclude in the third quarter of 2011 surged by more than 220 per cent to Dh14.07 billion compared with the previous quarter of the year, when buildings worth Dh4.4bn were completed, according to Dubai Municipality data published by the Dubai Statistics Centre website.

This is more than double the value of buildings completed in the same quarter of 2010, when Dh6.7bn worth of properties were completed, according to Dubai Municipality statistics.

This marks an all-time quarterly high for the value of completed buildings according to Dubai Municipality data, which maintains public records dating back to 2005.

The jump in the value of the completed buildings is largely due to the more than ten times surge in the value of industrial buildings (from Dh121 million in Q2 2011 to Dh1.24bn in Q3 2011) and an almost six times surge in the value of public facilities completed during the quarter (from Dh484m in Q2 2011 to Dh2.89bn in Q3 2011).

“The recent increase in activity gives the Dubai industrial property market a reason to celebrate,” real estate specialists Cluttons wrote in its latest Dubai Property Market Update.

“The third quarter of 2011 has seen a number of requirements from international light industrial and logistics occupiers entering the market seeking higher quality units,” the international property broker and advisor said in its report on the Dubai market.

“Market activity continues as international occupiers see Dubai as the ideal GCC location,” the Cluttons report said, adding that “[i]t is the courier companies and the GCC petrochemical industry that drives this recent surge in activity with the requests being received from occupiers involved in the downstream oil and gas sectors.”

The number of completed buildings, meanwhile, jumped by more than 15 per cent, from 638 to 736 quarter-on-quarter, but was down almost 17 per cent from 884 buildings completed during the corresponding quarter of last year, data shows.

Most other building types too saw a quarterly increase in value of completed units, with the value of investment villas jumping 167 per cent jump from Dh77m in the second quarter to Dh206 million in the third quarter of the year; value of completed multi-storeyed buildings inching up by 14 per cent, from Dh2.43bn to Dh2.76bn in the same period; and value of private villas up 11 per cent, from Dh824m in Q2 to Dh915m in Q3.

The value of completed buildings in Dubai hit a low in the fourth quarter of 2009, when 614 buildings worth Dh4.32bn were completed. Since then, however, the value of completed buildings has witnessed a marked improvement. While last year saw completion of buildings worth more than Dh30.8 billion, the first three quarters of 2011 have witnessed completion of buildings worth more than Dh24bn, according to the DM data.

According to Cluttons, while demand is steadily picking up for high quality residential accommodation – in the Marina, Emirates Living, Downtown, Arabian Ranches and Jumeirah – demand for high quality office space in Dubai is also experiencing an increase in enquiry numbers from large space users looking to consolidate from old obsolete space spread around the city to more modern and efficient space, and the property advisory company expects this trend to continue.

“The development market is also showing signs of coming out of hibernation with a number of developers who are holding well located and structured land banks and developments are now considering their options to develop out, and or extend existing developments,” the report said.

Cluttons added that the investment market for industrial property in Dubai remains strong with a number of funds seeking well let modern buildings. “Several institutions and investment banks have requirements for logistics buildings but the lack of investment grade stock means very few transactions have been completed and yields have hardened due to product not being available,” it said.