Monday, January 10, 2011

Dubai home prices extend drop in fourth quarter

A file picture shows the Burj Khalifa skyscraper dwarfing the city skyline of Dubai. Property prices in Dubai are still declining, according to a recent report. AFP photo

A file picture shows the Burj Khalifa skyscraper dwarfing the city skyline of Dubai. Property prices in Dubai are still declining, according to a recent report. AFP photo
Home prices in Dubai, the property market that had the biggest reversal because of the financial crisis, fell as much as 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months and more declines are “unavoidable,” Cluttons said.
Cluttons, a London-based property broker, said villa prices dropped 5.1 percent, while apartment values declined 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the third. The broker expects 35,000 homes to be completed in Dubai over the next two years.
Property prices in the emirate slid by almost 60 percent from their peak in mid-2008 after the credit crisis squeezed speculators out of the market and forced banks to lend less, Ahmed Badr, analyst at Credit Suisse Group said Sunday.
“As supply continues to increase, drops in values will be unavoidable,” Cluttons said. “We are continuing to see the flight to quality in both the sales and rental markets as the more desirable locations become increasingly affordable.”
Most homebuyers have budgets of no more than 1.5 million dirhams ($410,000) and only about 6 percent of them would consider properties costing more than that, the broker said.
Rents of apartments fell 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter, while villa rents declined 3.2 percent from the previous quarter, Cluttons said.
Buyers and tenants are focusing on completed projects with amenities and transport links such as The Old Town, Dubai Marina and The Greens, Cluttons said. That has led to a two-tiered market with inferior-quality homes, poor maintenance contracts and lack of views or amenities are proving hard to rent out.
Office rents fell in the fourth quarter as new buildings added to the amount of empty space. Dubai had 2.6 million square meters (28 million square feet) of offices under construction in June, the third-highest amount after Shanghai and Moscow, Colliers International said in a report in October.

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