Real Estate in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates has a booming real estate sector. The scale of investments committed to this sector is now in the tens of billions of Dirhams. The UAE has been described as the world’s most buoyant property market. In 2005 it dominated the Gulf construction sector with AED 130.6 billion (USD 35.42 billion) worth of projects under construction, accounting for 63.7 per cent of the total value of projects under construction in the GCC states. Saudi Arabia occupied second place with AED 28.9 billion, with Qatar (AED 16.88 billion) in third place, followed by Kuwait (AED 12.8 billion), Bahrain (AED 7.34 billion) and Oman (AED 5.1 billion).
Much of the success of the real estate sector is attributable to new property laws that have regularised the purchase of land and property for nationals and granted varying degrees of property rights to non-nationals. Whilst the property market has already reached massive proportions in Dubai, other emirates are now also developing this sector. Real estate developers like EMAAR and Nakheel and specialised home financing institutions like Amlak and Tamweel, besides other banking institutions, have all contributed to the design and development of world class real estate projects across the residential, commercial, office and leisure sub-sectors.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the real estate sector contributed between 8-15 per cent to the country’s GDP in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, the global economic downturn caused real estate prices to drop up to 40 per cent in some areas. Many projects have been put on hold, as banks have cut lending and global credit has dried up. But with the recovery now underway, experts predict the real estate sector will return to previous heights over the next three years.
Related Links
www.uaepropertyforum.com
www.uaefreezones.com
