PHOTO
UAE’s industrial rents have increased, driven by improved business confidence and high demand for e-commerce, according to Knight Frank.
During the first quarter of 2022, average warehousing lease rates continued to recover rapidly across Dubai, with grade A rents in Al Quoz, experiencing the sharpest increase and rents increasing across seven out of nine submarkets monitored by the real estate firm.
Faisal Durrani, partner, head of Middle East Research, Knight Frank said the brisk reopening of the emirate’s economy has inspired business confidence, as well as changes in ownership laws which were announced as part of economic stimulus measures.
He added that the pandemic has also driven a permanent shift in consumer shopping habits towards online.
“Indeed during 2021, excluding confidential requirements, almost a quarter of all demand in Dubai was from third party logistics (3PL) and logistics operators, which totalled almost 1.6 million square feet of space,” he said.
“While the ability for international businesses to fully own and operate businesses in over 1,000 sectors outside the city’s well-established free zones without an Emirati partner has not directly translated into an exodus from free zones, it has begun to attract international manufacturers not previously present,” Knight Frank said in its report.
The report also noted that Abu Dhabi industrial rents are also stable, remaining unchanged so far in 2022.
(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Cleofe Maceda)
