(AFP\Photo)
Real estate experts in Dubai expect the market to continue to grow this year, albeit at a slightly slower rate than in 2012, according to a report released by the Jones Lang LaSalle Real Estate Company’s Middle East and North Africa branch.
President of Research Administration at Jones Lang LaSalle Craig Blomb, however, said that “the market can expect to see a slow recovery as the price of rental properties is set to increase slightly throughout 2013”.
The report further went on to label Dubai as a safe haven for investment during the tumult of the Arab Spring.
He added that Dubai had passed its peak for construction in its real estate market and for that reason demand was set to increase at a faster rate than supply. Even though a number of new real estate projects were set to begin construction this year, he said it would be a long time before the Emirate would be able to reap the benefits of these developments.
Mathew Green, president of research administration at the SBRI World Investment Company’s United Arab Emirates branch, said that the UAE Central Bank’s decision to limit real estate funding for the purchase of property was logical and an appropriate step to limit the amount of excess in the sector, similar to that which led to the 2008 world economic crisis.
Until 2013, Lebanese investors have pumped more money into UAE real estate than any other Arab state, with investments for 2012 totaling AED 984m, out of a total of AED 58.6bn invested in the sector all together.
Egyptian investment in Dubai’s real estate sector totaled AED 816m, an equivalent of EGP 1.4bn, followed by Syria which purchased a total of AED 634m worth of real estate in the Dubai in 2012.
