Thursday, Feb 16, 2012
(This story was originally published Wednesday)
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The value of real estate transactions in Dubai rose last year to hit 143 billion U.A.E dirham ($38.930 billion), a senior official said Wednesday.
"The total value of real estate transactions in Dubai last year reached AED143 billion, up 20% from 2010," Marwan Bin Ghlaita, head of Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency, or Rera said.
Dubai's real estate market, which unlike its neighbor Abu Dhabi, remains over supplied with "about 10,700 new units entering the market in Dubai last year; and with an expected additional 15,000 to 16,000 units to enter the market this year," said Bin Ghlaita.
The new supply is expected to come mostly from master developers rather than from third-party developers, Bin Ghlaita said.
According to Rera, there are about 220 projects currently under construction in Dubai at various stages of completion, he said. Of them, over a 100 are nearly complete and "will probably be finished and delivered this year." A further 37 projects that are half complete, may or may not be delivered this year, he added.
Real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle has said that supply of office space in Dubai could rise by 1.1 million square meters in 2012 versus 803,000 square meters in 2011. Residential space is also seen rising by 23,000 units versus 13,000 units in 2011.
-By Leila Hatoum and Asa Fitch, Dow Jones Newswires; +971-4-446-1686; leila.hatoum@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-02-12 0351GMT
