Dubai, August 8th, 2007 (WAM) - One of Dubai's leading private propertydevelopers has predicted that demand for homes and offices in Dubai willcontinue to exceed supply for the next few years, and said forecasts thatdemand will cool down in 2008 and 2009 were not based on reality.

Mehdi Amjad, President and CEO of Omniyat Holdings and Omniyat Properties,said the imbalance between supply and demand in Dubai's buoyant real estatemarket is expected to continue well into the next decade with the sectoranticipating a new wave of investors from a completely different demographicprofile.

Speaking in response to increasing speculation about supply and demandfigures for the emirate, Amjad argues that with the expected doublingof Dubai's population in five to eight years, massive demand for propertywill continue. 'The whole bubble theory is a bubble that has been burst,'Amjad said.

"We keep hearing that the balance between supply and demand will be realisedin 2008 or 2009. People who are saying that are not actively involvedin the Dubai market, but just commenting on it from their ivory towersbased on their experience in other markets. We all know Dubai is different.

Dubai has His Highness Sheikh Mohammed," he said.

Amjad said the Dubai market is hungry for new property and is continuingto absorb new launches even as more and more buildings and are being deliveredall over Dubai, a fact that was displayed with the delivery of recentprojects such as International City and Jumeirah Beach Residence.

"A lot of people were predicting that the release of JBR and before thatInternational City would lead to a decrease in demand, but it was a dropin the ocean! More than 25,000 units in JBR alone were delivered and theywere all absorbed into the market without even causing a small dent indemand," he said.

Amjad said Dubai is aggressively targeting population growth, and thatwill lead to growth in demand for real estate. 'The government is buildinga city for five million people whereas today we have fewer than two. Quitesimply, this means that whatever is supplied now will not be enough andwon't be for many years to come,' he noted.

However, whilst demand will continue to outweigh supply, it will not beas extreme as it has been in the last two years, said the Omniyat chief,adding that Dubai's leaders are pulling out all the stops to find thebest solutions to achieve a balance between supply and demand.

"The Dubai government is doing all it can to meet the demand. It is makingmore land available for development and it is controlling the cost ofraw materials such as cement. It's attracting new developers and new constructioncompanies whilst also providing facilities and the necessary legislationto protect investors, developers, and home buyers," he said.

Amjad said that as more construction capacity comes onto the market andwith new players from all over the world becoming involved, more projectswill be delivered on time. 'Currently there are a lot of projects whichare late because some developers find it difficult to ensure their constructioncompanies remain on schedule. At Omniyat Properties, we manage to do thatvery well,' he said.

"No other country in the world is doing what Dubai is and at such a pace.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President,Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said recently that those who said thatthe real estate bubble would burst are now running after it as it vanishesinto the sky." And with regard to criticism that many of Dubai's developments have beengeared towards wealthy clientele, Amjad explains that this is a normaltrend for new real estate markets.

"With any market just starting out, there are the pioneers who can affordto take the highest risks. These are the wealthy segment and the productswhich were offered by developers in Dubai in the early years were designedfor this investor, so it was natural that they were more luxury oriented,"he said.

As the market matured, Amjad pointed out, more and more developers startedto look at the middle and lower segments of the market which did not haveas much initial demand in the early years as a result of lower incomebuyers staying away from the Dubai real estate market.

"Many developers now have projects catering specifically for this segmentand Omniyat Properties will also be launching projects for this marketvery soon. The government is also doing more to provide mortgage and financialfacilities which are important for this group of buyers," he said.

Amjad also lauded the formation of Dubai's Real Estate Regulation Authority(RERA) following Dubai's new law No 8 - issued by HH Sheikh Mohammed binRashid Al Maktoum - which makes escrow accounts compulsory for all Dubaioff-plan developments, with money released only on the order of the DubaiLand Department.

"RERA is to be affiliated to the Land Department and tasked with the responsibilityof overseeing key areas such as property brokers, trust accounts and ownersassociations, as well as regulating real estate brokers in an effort toweed out unqualified freelance agents. This is extremely positive movefor the market and will see investor confidence go through the roof,"he added.