Property firm sees 24% rise in UAE rental deals

UAE real estate agency Better Homes on Sunday revealed that its number of rental transactions during May were 24 percent higher than in the same month in 2008.

The company said the increase in business was part of "some positive results" over the past two weeks, where both general enquiries and transactions were on the rise, following a sharp dip in recent months amid the impact of the global financial crisis on the UAE.

Following an Open Day event last weekend at its Jumeriah Beach Residence branch, Better Homes said it recorded an "overwhelming response" to its summer offers of inventory for sale and for rent.

Billy Rautenbach, director of operations, Better Homes, said: "The positive result indicates that despite the recent market downturn, if the right product is offered to the client at the right price, at the right time, there is a good opportunity to transact units within both sales and leasing."

Her comments came amid gloomy predictions from UBS and Deutsche Bank last week which predicted that house prices in the UAE still had some way to fall before hitting the bottom.

UBS analysts predicted a further 40 percent drop while Deutsche Bank feared prices would fall by up to another 20 percent.

But Rautenbach remain upbeat, adding: "Our number of leasing transactions is looking very positive. In May this year, we executed 24 percent more leasing transactions than in May 2008."

With talk in the market of mortgages becoming available soon, Better Homes said it expects to see continued success in leasing and see an increase in property purchases sooner than expected.

"As soon as lending becomes available at a wider scale, we expect to see a rise in sales transactions," added Rautenbach.

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