Invest in Dubai aims to highlight Dubai's position in real estate on a global front.
The Dubai Land Department (DLD), through the Promotion and Real Estate Investment Management Sector, launched its new 'Invest in Dubai', a year long virtual initiative under the theme 'Discussing the opportunities that arise from Dubai as a real estate investment destination'.
The initiative aims to highlight Dubai's position in real estate on a global front. It also sets out to confirm the vision and aspirations of Dubai, being a leading city in the world underpinning various real estate investment projects through an automated, virtual platform that features everyone operating in this field, including developers, investors, and brokers, linking them with investors from around the world.
Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director-general of DLD, said Dubai is witnessing successes that reflect the flexibility of the government's directives during all circumstances, which qualifies it to enter a vital stage that would reflect the strength "We need to unify our visions, bring together real estate minds from around the world, and harness tools and capabilities are of utmost importance for us to help shape the future of real estate in a manner that enhances the sustainability of our successes to achieve global leadership in Dubai's real estate market," he said.
The new initiative keeps pace with the current changes in the real estate market, promotes the quality of life in Dubai and the diversity of cultures and nationalities, emphasises Dubai's market and its attractiveness, and offers real estate knowledge as well as distinguished services to all investors.
"Through our new initiative, we will invite outstanding real estate minds from all over the world to communicate through this unique and beneficial virtual platform, where they can build new relationships and attract real estate investments to build a phenomenal global city that has inspired us to progress into the future and overcome all our challenges," Majida Ali Rashid, CEO, Promotion and Real Estate Investment Management Sector at DLD, said.
During the current pandemic, she said Dubai has proven itself to be one of the top-performing cities.
"We also witnessed together its success and financial stability as well as the flexibility of the government's performance. We would like to take this unique opportunity to strengthen our international relationships further and enhance Dubai real estate practices with the help of globally distinct and knowledgeable minds," she said.
The organisers of the initiative are looking forward to achieving a number of important goals, including empowering investors in the real estate market to contribute to the new platform in developing their businesses and organising access to distinguished and comprehensive services in the real estate field.
The initiative will also play an important role in highlighting the various real estate investment projects and confirming the attractiveness of Dubai's real estate sector. This initiative will cover Dubai and countries from all over the world that are looking to start investing as well as investors looking to live in Dubai.
In a webinar held with leading sector experts, Atif Rahman, director and partner of Danube Properties, said the prices and affordability that is available in Dubai property sector today may never be possible in the near future, so investors should make most of this golden opportunity.
"The emirate is known to offer safe market, ease of doing business and return on investment. The resilience displayed by the sector during the outbreak of Covid-19 is testimony of the building of strong economy."
Highlighting DLD's digital agenda, Majid Al Marri, CEO, of Registration and Services, Dubai Land Department, said the DLD is committed to bring in best practices that will boost investment in the real estate sector.
"With digital economy being the top priority, we have ensured that smart processes are introduced to save on cost and time and that will help investors."
In last three months, DLD completed 100,000 transactions electronically during the Covid-19 phase with 25 service centres in Dubai.
Akil Kazem, Chief Commercial of Nakheel, said: "With every challenge comes opportunity and we at Nakheel have observed there is a willingness and demand from residents to upgrade. The villas are still in demand as they are offering good prices and deals, there is also a demand for ready products."
Suhail bin Tarraf, chief operating officer of Emirates Islamic. said: "The bank is closely working with the developers and in the process of expediting approvals and financing of the properties. We are also deploying blockchain technology to introduce smart processes that will help the bank to transact with developers and consumers more efficiently." - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Source: " https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/local/dubai-first-city-of-choice-for-real-estate-investors-"
The real estate industry is a key pillar of the UAE economy, and it has been going through a correction phase in recent years due to the widening gap between supply and demand.
Leading property developers had been rushing to complete their development projects ahead of Expo 2020, which has now been rescheduled to next year in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
The delay of Expo 2020 could be a positive catalyst for the real estate industry, as it will help attract investors for ready residential units in the market. Developers have held on new projects and slowed down the pace of work on existing developments so they will be able to market existing stock to potential buyers ahead of the six-month long mega event, which is expected to attract 25 million people across the world.
The UAE real estate market is suffering from an oversupply, with more projects nearing completion, so the delay in World Expo, could help to resolve this key issue by affording more time for developers to sell their residential and commercial units, as prices become more affordable.
The real estate market in 2019-20
In 2019, developers started off with projects that were set to provide at least 13,216 units by the end of the year. However, the actual completion rate with real estate projects is almost 40-50 per cent of that. Therefore, a total of 6,500 units saw actual completion in 2019. The momentum shifted towards the start of the new year and continued the spill over with more than 20,000 residential units completed from January to April 2020.
Developers targeted areas likely to be the most plausible options for the Expo 2020 site. Since the declared event site was more towards the Southern districts of Dubai, projects were launched there.
To be more precise, the following areas saw the most significant focus of development:
1. Business Bay
2. Town Square
3. Downtown Dubai
4. Dubai Sports City
5. Dubai Production City
According to the data pooling in from various property portals and statistic reports, the Jan-April 2020 period saw a rise in the numbers as follows:
1. More than 15,000 apartments
2. More than 3,800 villas and townhouses
3. Over 1,000 serviced apartments
Comparing it with numbers from 2019, it is easy to see that the numbers are exponentially higher than that of January to April 2019. Almost 15,060 residential units in total were completed at that time.
Opportunity for stakeholders
The start of 2020 brought about almost 5,000 residential units available for sale. According to Core's reports, this brings the total number of residential units in Dubai up to 555,000.
This was all in anticipation of the massive influx of visitors the Expo 2020 was set to bring. Although the postponement of the event was unexpected, the launched projects were only going to see completion later this year. This therefore represents a potential opportunity for developers to complete projects and increase inventory ahead of the mega event in 2021.
Furthermore, developers should not slow down their projects, keeping in view the long-term bigger picture of the real estate industry. Dubai has emerged as a competitive and established real estate market and only those who will survive the current situation will be the ones that promote their projects to the right people at the right price at the right time. In addition to public listed real estate giants, some private developers have also been reporting good sales volumes despite the ongoing slowdown in the market because of their better marketing strategies and product offering through an appropriate platform. Real estate in Dubai is a 'Buyer's Market' at the moment and the developers will have to be innovative and competitive to sell their stock.
It's obvious that the market is teeming with residential projects up for grabs, especially with the benefits of off-plan property investment. The coronavirus has forced the whole world on a lockdown, therefore affecting the emirate's tourism and hospitality industries. Although these were one of the main sources of income for the country, the UAE is faring significantly better with lesser cases to show.
In addition to this, the economic stimulus packages and relief programs offered by some of the major companies have provided much needed support. An example would be of the Commercial Bank of UAE's economic stimulus package that increased loan-to-value ratios by five per cent for first-time homebuyers.
Even though the UAE economy is facing a significant challenge, the real estate market will continue to mature. Given the long-term nature of the investment that real estate has always had, it's safe to say the market is going to survive and growth will come back.
Real estate consultants and agents claim their recent clients are in search of bigger living spaces. It seems the pandemic has changed consumer behaviour and made a new demand for villas and townhouses, with numbers of transactions rising.
The date of the Expo 2020 has shifted to 2021 and times are challenging but the desire for people to visit, live and work in the UAE has not diminished.
- Gary Dalton is the managing director at ZoomProperty.com. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.
Source:" https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/real-estate/expo-2020-delay-a-positive-catalyst-for-dubai-real-estate"
The UAE has rolled out stimulus packages worth about Dh100 billion, majority of which had been earmarked towards SMEs as well as consumers.
The UAE economy is expected to stage a gradual recovery towards pre-Covid-19 levels in the mid to latter part of 2021 and a full recovery in 2022, said Massimo Falcioni, chief executive officer of Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI).
In an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, Falcioni said: "ECI has always been steadfast in supporting UAE companies, and our commitment has become much more visible as businesses navigate the socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic."
During this crisis, ECI continues to offer financial solutions to ensure business continuity, without increasing our premiums/fees despite the intensified commercial and political risks it faces today.
"Our trade credit solution, for one, helped UAE exporters to not only stay competitive in the international markets, but to also get substantial protection from their buyers' non-payments and to protect their cash flow/liquidity. Because of the crisis, the likelihood of default in payment is further heightened due to the business liquidity squeeze caused by the supply chain disruption," added Falcioni.
Besides Covid-19, there are other negative factors at play weighing on the UAE economy, such as low oil prices and a strengthening currency.
Domestic demand in the UAE will also not be able to recover fully until overseas demand starts normalising; various sectors of the country's economy like trade, tourism, real estate, leisure, hospitality and domestic manufacturing rely heavily on inbound and outbound flows.
However, continued government stimulus measures, a gradual easing of the restrictions, the upcoming Dubai Expo in 2021 and other factors will eventually help the economy to revert to its pre-Covid levels towards the end of 2021, said the ECI chief.
ECI has become a catalyst as the nation mounts a prosperous recovery from the crisis by playing two roles - as a stabiliser and an accelerator.
Aside from its exemplary initiatives against Covid-19, the UAE is also sought-after by nations because of the critical role it plays in the success of the Belt and Road Initiative, the most ambitious global infrastructure undertaking that is seen to help various countries recover from the financial blow caused by the pandemic.
The UAE has successfully positioned itself as a focal point of global business, but it is in the midst of the pandemic that the world has truly witnessed its real competence in terms of governance and economic support. It is, for one, among the few nations to roll out impressive stimulus packages and fiscal initiatives that helped companies avoid total shutdown as a result of the economic pressure posed by the pandemic.
Also, the Central Bank of the UAE has rolled out stimulus packages worth about Dh100 billion, majority of which had been earmarked towards SMEs as well as consumers. Emirates like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have announced individual fiscal packages in addition to the Dh16 billion stimulus announced by the UAE cabinet for all seven emirates. In total, the combined size of all the stimulus programmes now exceeds Dh120 billion.
The ECI's focus in the second half of 2020 would be to help advance domestic companies.
"We have begun forging partnerships with various federal institutions and foreign entities to find innovative methods of generating commercial and financial growth in the post-crisis era. Some of the agreements we have recently signed include those with Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, which intends to upkeep UAE exporters through Shariah-compliant export credit solutions; Bpifrance Assurance Export, which aims to improve the trade relations between France and the UAE, as well as augment the growth of exporters and SMEs; and the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which aims to educate on ways to mitigate the impact of Covid-19." said Falcioni. - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Source:" https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/local/uae-to-stage-gradual-recovery-in-mid--late-2021"
Dubai further strengthened its position as Mena's most transparent real estate market.
The UAE's real estate sector became more transparent as both Dubai and Abu Dhabi introduced fresh measures, improving their global
ranking as well as maintaining their top regional position in the Mena region.
According to JLL's Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2020, Dubai, which was ranked 36th, further strengthened its position as Mena's most transparent real estate market, climbing three places up the global ranking. Abu Dhabi - ranked 48th, recorded substantial improvement in transparency, becoming one of the top performers globally on the back of its robust sustainability initiatives.
After UAE, Saudi Arabia is the most transparent market followed by Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Tunisia and Lebanon. In addition, the UAE (Abu Dhabi) is the largest improver in transparency index across South, Southeast Asia, Western Europe and Mena in the last two years.
However, overall, however, the Mena region has seen transparency levels decline from 2018.
JLL said the most significant initiative launched by Dubai in 2019 was the creation of an official transaction-based index, Mo'asher, by the Dubai Land Department in partnership with Property Finder.
"While the new index may lack the robustness of the valuation-based indices available in more mature markets, Mo'asher constitutes a potentially important step forward for Dubai, as it means the establishment of a single index that is widely used by all market participants," the consultancy said.
It said the UAE is taking the lead in the Middle East on green buildings with its increasing adoption of Abu Dhabi's Estidama Pearl Rating System and the Dubai Green Building Regulations.
Globally, the UK, US, Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, and Germany are the most transparent real estate markets in the world. - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Source:" https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/local/uae-real-estate-sector-becomes-more-transparent-in-2020"
Strong June transactions lay foundation for rebound; more units being sold
Real estate sale transactions in Dubai jumped by 60 per cent month-on-month in June 2020 signalling patterns of a V-shaped recovery, according to developers and property experts.
Real estate portal Property Finder said the sector in Dubai has been transacting more than 570 sales transactions weekly on average over the past several weeks as the secondary market bounced back to pre-Covid levels.
"During the past three weeks the number of weekly real estate sales transactions has been consistently increasing by almost 11 per cent on average," the portal said in its report.
The second quarter saw total sales transactions of 5,564 worth Dh10.88 billion, which is half of what transacted in the first quarter.
"A strong June laid the foundation for a faster recovery and we are seeing patterns of a V-shaped recovery as the sector is back to the transaction levels of February and early March 2020," it added.
"This brings the year-to-date total of 15,893 total sales transactions worth Dh32.49 billion."
"We all know that Dubai has an excellent track record for bouncing back from adversities. I am not surprised by the report as Dubai's investment market offers a plethora of opportunities for investors. It is one of the safest and lucrative investment markets across globe, giving one of the highest returns on investment of around six to eight per cent, which is expected to increase in the coming months," said Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman of Danube Group.
"Dubai laid strong foundations for everything it does because it is based on a shrewd brainstorming, meticulous planning and professional execution. The popular metropolitan has set many examples to follow. The most recent one is effectively confronting the challenges caused by Covid-19 and repercussions related to it," said Imran Farooq, CEO of Samana Group.
"The market has started seeing the signs of recovery. The start of tourist arrivals and increasing number of real estate transactions are the signs of healthy recovery. Therefore, it does not seem far to see Dubai getting into a V-shaped recovery."
Farhad Azizi, CEO of Azizi Developments, said the developer sold just around one apartment per week during the early months of the pandemic, but is now selling five to six per day.
"Before the pandemic, it was around 15 per day. As a construction-focused developer, we are working around the clock to complete our projects, especially now, at a time when a comfortable home is more important than ever before," said Azizi.
"While we have taken several precautions, we are fully operational and proud to be a leading entity in one of the UAE's most vital sectors. We are committed to our unremitting pursuance of developing homes and lifestyles, and our integral role in safeguarding the real estate sector against the implications of Covid-19," he said.
Azizi said despite the current global situation, the developer would continue to develop projects at an accelerated pace and proactively serve as a catalyst to the UAE's vision and development.
The secondary market accounted for only 28 per cent of total sales in April and 33.5 per cent of total sales in May. However, in June 2020, this returned back to the normal trend we have seen since 2019 as the secondary market accounted for 53 percent of total sales transactions, said the report.
"We have clearly seen pent-up demand during this time and some real estate agencies are having record-breaking months. Mortgage enquiries are high; interest rates are at an all-time low and the banks are giving their best offers yet. The demand for villa/townhouses have increased by over 400 per cent since the crisis started and I believe the summer months will continue to be busy as most will not travel and prices are very attractive," a spokesperson of Property Finder said.
The top areas for secondary sales transactions in June 2020 were Dubailand (8.2 per cent), Business Bay (6.3 per cent), Dubai Marina (5.9 per cent), Town Square (5.7per cent) and Dubai Hills Estate (5.2 per cent).
The top areas for off plan sales transactions in June were Mohammed bin Rashid city (15.6 per cent), Jumeirah Village Circle (11.7 per cent), Downtown Dubai (9.2 per cent), Business Bay (8.4 per cent) and Dubai South (7 per cent).
The top five areas for which consumers posted enquiries on Property Finder for residential properties in June were Dubai Marina, Dubai Hills Estate, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Village Circle and Downtown Dubai.
The top areas where consumers sent enquiries for in June 2020 for residential properties for rent on Property Finder were Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Hills Estate, Downtown Dubai and Business Bay.
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source:" https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/real-estate/dubai-realty-set-for-v-shaped-recovery"
