More than 60% think UAE property prices will fall further - poll

More than 60 percent of people think UAE property prices are going to drop by another 20-30 percent this year, according to an online poll.

Arabian Business asked its readers whether they thought the real estate market had hit the bottom, with just 5 percent in agreement.

Instead, some 63.4 percent of people thought there was still another 20-30 percent correction to come.

House prices in Dubai have tumbled 50 percent from their peak during the fourth quarter of last year.

Problems of over-supply and population shrinkage, with thousands of jobless expatriates expected to return home now schools have broken up, will mean continued pressure on prices.

The poll results provide a rather more pessimistic view of the UAE real estate market than a recent Shuaa Capital survey into investor confidence.

The Dubai-based investment bank found that 19 percent of investors believed that the market had bottomed out.

The investor confidence survey, conducted between June 13 and 16, is the only one of its kind in the region. It also found the highest increase in investor confidence, rising 16.8 points to 123.8 points on the month.

However, the Arabian Business poll found that only 6.1 percent of people were optimistic, believing that the market was now on the road to recovery.

While, 25.6 percent played it safe, saying nothing was going to change until the end of the year.

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