Poll: What do you expect of Dubai real estate prices in 2014?

[totallyproperty]

While there is no doubt that 2013 has been an exceptional year for Dubai property prices, especially bearing in mind how the world economy has performed, how do you think the market will perform in 2014?

We would like to hear your opinions on the thread and would welcome your vote in our online poll.

Regards,


Mark

 

[ushre]

The property rates are already moving up and it wont be any different in 2014 with EXPO2020 win.

{moderated}

 

[Salman_Rizvi]

property prices will continue to increase

 

[waqasismail]

well the good sign for Dubai Property Market is the entitlement of hosting Dubai Expo 2020. it pulls the market by offering investors something very special. but right now investors are just carefully watching the projects and acting in a proactive way. i suppose the mid of 2014 will clear most of the things for dubai property market

 

[Angela Davis]

Some people were thinking that the Expo 2020 win would rise the price at least 20 % overnight, but in most of the cases, they were surely incorrect as overpriced properties will remain overpriced and available.

 

[iceton]

Dubai prices rose massively end 2012 and thru 2013, this enabled me to sell our townhouse in motor city and pull everything out we had put in, this turned out to be a bit premature as our old house is now worth approx. 800000 dhs more than what we sold it for ce la vie eh!

IMO prices will stabilize over the coming months, no more heavy increases like we saw the past 24 months but a leveling out of prices with a long term trend of modest gains, this is of course dependant on the location, The marina , Downtown and Palm will all outperform other areas due to high demand and the excellent locations.

 

[ajman001]

But last month, Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Dubai’s biggest developer Emaar, said the government will not allow "unjustifiable" rent increases to fuel a new price bubble on the back of the emirate's Expo 2020 win.

 

[iceton]

There is a cap on year to year increases as governed by the Rent Index and there are new regulations that make it more difficult for a landlord to get rid of a tenant just because he wants to rent the property out at a higher rate. The main thing is that tenants have to make themselves knowledgeable about their rights and too many times this just isn't the case.

DIFC is excluded from the rest of Dubai property regs and there are no rent caps as DIFC has a common law jurisdiction and its own court system.

Abu Dhabi has just scrapped its rent caps and already there is a stampede by landlords to push massive increases on tenants or evict them, its a bit wierd really as there are hundreds and hundreds of empty props in Abu Dhabi with more coming onto the market every day, you would think the opposite would happen where rents decrease and there is more competition to keep good reliable tenants in place.

 

[totallyproperty]

Do you feel that the United Arab Emirates is headed for yet another troubled time for the real estate market?

 

[iceton]

The Dubai property market is slowly maturing, don't forget there was no Real Estate market as such here 12 years ago, it was impossible to get a mortgage/finance for an expat in thoses days so it really is a case of maturing of the back of its mistakes and the market forces present.

Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world and I cant see this changing any time soon considering the rulers/govt commitment to turning Dubai into the Singapore of the Mid East. The govt is learning as time goes on and introducing regulations/laws to stop the fraud and over speculation that was rife in earlier years.

My view is, that like Real Estate markets all over the world, there will be a cyclic effect and ups and downs, Ive lost count of the cycles Ive lived through in UK but remember well times when there was a buying frenzy and then suddenly a crash and props remain unsold for months and even years, why should Dubai be any different? The major factor that is a big question mark still is will/when will a property owner/investor be able to get a residency visa if a property is purchased , this was promised many years back and still is not the case due to the fact residency is a Federal Govt issue not an individual Emirate Govt decision and the largest emirate Abu Dhabi govt is a totally different mindset to the Dubai govt, very tribal and conservative, maybe there will be a substantial change when the current Ruler SHk Khalifa departs and his successor maybe has a different take on the situation.

Notice I talk about the Dubai property market, the rest of the UAE is a different matter and personally there is no way I would buy in Ras Al Khamaih or Ajman for instance unless I wanted a pure holiday home and tbh I can think of far nicer places to have a holiday home.

 

[samanthaflax02]

The property rate will move lower.

 

[aliasgar_ns]

Will move lower.

 

[iceton]

I don't understand what you mean "will move lower" do you think prices will actually drop into negative in other words below current selling prices or do you mean the rate of increase in %age terms will drop/slow down?

 

[aliasgar_ns]

The US Property market was very mature (with all regs in place),but it still crashed and struggled to come back up to the 2008 levels.
So just bcos UAE government is putting all the Regs in place (escrow, threshold for off plan loans, etc) cannot save the property market if there is still speculation and the rate of growth is unchecked.
Having said that, I will tell you a ground reality. My residence rental were supposed to increase when the expo2020 was announced. Three months down the line I have heard that the rental will not be increased. How can people afford to pay high rents when salaries have not increased? If the rentals don't increase, the increase in property value is not justified.

A 1 BR in Discovery which was on sale in Nov for 615k is now been sold for 800k+. That's unreal increase. I wonder how will they find a buyer for such price?

Just my thoughts..

 

[iceton]

I think that you have hit the nail on the head, the Dubai market is not anywhere near its full maturity level, the population is increasing exponentially ( just look at the levels of traffic increase for instance over the last 18 months) and Dubai is recognized as the fastest growing city in the world, extremely different dynamics to what can be compared with the US or any other developed markets, yes there will be corrections and stabilising of prices but as long the population and business development keep growing at the present rate I don't see a "crash" on the horizon unless we have another worldwide financial breakdown as experienced in 2008 which may happen but its going to be a long way off imo. As far as Expo those who predicted an immediate demand and increase in prices just because of Expo were a bit ahead of reality imo, there will be a demand for housing near to the expo site and prices/rents for those developments will increase steadily as the projects and different parts of the Expo start to take off over the next two/three years.

 

[totallyproperty]

While there is no doubt that the Dubai property market has done extremely well in the recent past, and continues to do so, will political instability in countries such as the Ukraine lead to some profit-taking in the short to medium term?

 

[arrighi]

I think Dubai property will increase till the end of 2014 then we will have small correction less than 20%.
Any infos about Abu Dhabi

 

[Angela Davis]

Well the situation of Dubai property prices is not hidden from any one.Just wait and watch for sizzling change.

 

[howayda]

"Move higher"

 

[Mark007]

The market will naturally increase in Dubai unless there is a financial correction of some sort around the world.

Month on Month more and more people are moving to dubai and demand is incredible in areas that have previously been unpopular.

I would say Dubai will increase...