In a sign of a maturing market, banks have now started assisting their mortgage clients offload multiple properties in the emirate even as experts maintain that property prices may have already bottomed out in select areas of the emirate.
One such example is the Qatari lender Doha Bank, which yesterday issued tenders in the UAE's local dailies to offload eight apartments in Emirates Garden cluster of Jumeirah Village South.
Emirates 24/7 learns that these apartments belong to a single owner, who has taken out a mortgage with Doha Bank for the properties.
While the expat owner bought the flats at the peak of the real estate boom, the Qatari bank is now assisting its client sell them at the prevailing market rates, which have declined substantially since the launch of the development.
The bank has invited sealed tenders for the apartments, ranging between 628 sq ft and 1,539 sq ft, for a basic price of Dh425 per sq ft compared to an approximate asking price of an average of Dh500 per sq ft in similar apartments listed on Propertyfinder.ae and Dubizzle.com, two of Dubai's most popular online property search portals.
In its advert for the tenders, Doha Bank has stated that the apartments are located on the fourth floor of Emirates Garden 1, and that the bank will prefer a consolidated offer for all apartments by a single bidder.
According to Emirates 24/7 calculations, the total area of all the apartments put together is 8,299 sq ft, and assuming that the tender is successful at the Dh425 per sq ft basic rate (it has been clearly mentioned that any offers below the basic rate will not be considered), the eight apartments will have a total sale price of Dh3.53 million.
According to earlier reports by the developer, Damac Properties, the construction of the Emirates Gardens 1 development was completed in March 2009.
Property prices in prime areas of the emirate are trending upwards, with authorities and agents reporting a marked increase I the number of transactions this year.
Late last month, the auction by Dubai Land Department (DLD) of a bunch of villas in Dubai's Springs community saw the units commanding up to 40 per cent more than the reserved base price. DLD has said that it will be looking to auction off about 80 properties across Dubai this year, including units in popular areas such as Jumeirah Beach Residence, the Greens, Dubai Marina and Downtown Dubai.
In March, the DLD held two auctions with seven freehold properties, of which five were sold at up to 20 per cent premium on the reserve price.
At the same time, rents and sale prices of residential units in select areas of Dubai seem have taken a U-turn after the prices plummeted by up to 60 per cent since peaking in 2008. Analysts and real estate specialists are hopeful that Dubai property will see a steady recovery this year, but are advising their clients to remain cautious and focus on location, build quality and service history of the developer before taking the plunge.
© Emirates 24|7 2012
