Dubai's real estate is back in business

Dubai's property market is witnessing a brisk activity as transactions increased substantially after the formation of the real estate committee to ensure balance between supply and demand, said a senior official of Dubai Land Department.

"We noticed significant improvement in the real estate market since the announcement of new committee to maintain balance in real estate market. The real estate transactions grew by 134 per cent in a few days after the announcement compared to the same period before the committee," said Majida Ali Rashid, assistant director-general, Dubai Land Department.

On September 2, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the establishment of a real estate committee under Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, to maintain stability and balance between supply and demand in the real estate market.

The committee will also ensure that the semi-government developers don't compete with private sector companies and also lay out a strategic plan for all major real estate projects of the emirate for the next 10 years.

"We want to ensure that real estate sector stands to high level of professionalism to represent Dubai. We have over 210 different nationalities working in the real estate market and more than Dh1.4 trillion accumulative investments in over 715,000 accumulative investments by 374,000 accumulative investors," she said while delivering a keynote address at the Cityscape Conference in Dubai on Tuesday.

She pointed out that in 2019, there have been over Dh56 billion worth of investments through 31,000 transactions by 23,000 investors. Also, over 38,000 deals with a value of over Dh155 billion were recorded so far in 2019. "More than Dh7 billion in agent commissions have been recorded in 2019. All these indicators show the solidity of the emirate's real estate market," she added.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director-general of Dubai Land Department, said in a keynote presentation that the department monitors the real estate affairs closely and takes decisions to ensure sustainability of the sector.

"We all looked at the decision issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for the real estate sector to ensure balance between demand and supply. This decision was taken to organise real estate market and has resulted in huge increase in transactions," Bin Mejren said.

Mahmoud Farghally, research and studies specialist at Dubai Land Department, said 61 projects have been started in 2019 and 20 projects have been completed so far this year.

"Dubai is one of the world's most improved economies in the Global Real Estate Transparency Index. Dubai was ranked first in the Middle East and 40th globally in 2018 compared to 48th in 2016," Farghally said during his presentation.

DLD's annual real estate sector performance report released earlier this month showed that the number of units expected to be added from the under-construction projects reached 130,000 units. It is expected that 30,000 units will be added in 2020, and 24,000 units in 2021.

Online platform dubizzle on Tuesday said prices and rentals fell in popular areas of the emirate including Dubai Marina, JLT, Sports City, Motor City and Remraam.

Matthew Gregory, director, dubizzle Property, said the rental and sale price fluctuations really reflect the correction of Dubai property market.

"With supply levels in newer areas going up, and communities in prime locations becoming more affordable, tenants and home buyers are increasingly spoilt for choice. This trend is likely to continue for the next 12-18 months, as supply levels continue to increase with 124,000 new units expected to enter the market by 2021. It will take some time for existing and new supply to be absorbed completely. The upcoming Expo 2020 and positive government initiatives will contribute to the stabilisation of the market in the foreseeable future," said Gregory.