ArabianBusiness.com - Middle East Business News
Friday, 27 November 2009 11:59 UAE time

YOUR DIRECTORY /

Real estate chief sees sales, valuations slump

by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Saturday, 7 March 2009
« Back to the article

Filter By Date Date Range


Posted on Sunday, 15 March 2009

I have friends who have invested in year 2008 and have lost their peace, sleep & also burnt their hands



I have friends who have invested in year 2008 and have burnt their hands. They jumped in late, they are suffering too much, their money is stuck, because their investments are just sand and only on paper as the construction has been done only 10% in the projects where they have invested. Also the rate per sq ft has been reduced to 50% of what they paid in year 2008. This is what happened to people who jumped in the share market in the year 2008 , they went and jumped in when it was very high and lost money when it nose dived. How do they get out of this, also they paid high rates per sq ft which was the highest in the year 2008, now the construction costs, building materials costs have been reduced by 50% or more. The rate what they paid for booking the properties have dropped by 50%, how do you expect them to continue making payments and in the end get a property which as on todays date is just 50% in value to what they have paid. Therefore RERA must get involved and sort out these cases before the defaulters list bursts in Dubai during may and june 2009. In India, there are number of developers who have slashed the rates even after bookings were collected in the year 2008, because they have to pay less for building materials and construction, and they know pretty well that the buyers will not pay if the rates are high and they will end up with a snowball of defaulters. RERA of Dubai and Ajman must get involved and act as a negotiator between investors and developers and create a buffer zone of rates which will be realistic for the end users and buyers. In Ajman 95% of the projects are still sand, and all of it has been booked. Imagine what will happen there as the action started very late in Ajman.

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT



Posted on Monday, 9 March 2009

Investor?



Ramesh,
you sound like an investor who has been able to enjoy the highlife, but now that the business climate is turning against you, you are crying foul and are asking the government to make up for your losses.
Sorry, but that kind of behaviour does not demand any respect. Sometimes you win and sometime loose. It is the true business man who plans for the bad times and can weather the storm only to come out of it stronger.

The people we should feel sorry for are the hardworking people who bought a house at an over-inflated price (due to the speculators who are now crying foul) for their family to live in, lost their job and now have no means of ensuring their family has a family a roof over their head.

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT



Posted on Sunday, 8 March 2009

When Dubai said its gonna rain we came out wearing raincoats and umbrallas in hand THAT TRUST WE HAD IN DUBAI



When we were thrown up like a child in the air, WE had total trust that UAE will always catch us down and then throw us more higher for more fun and joy.
When we were told it will rain WE immediately came out wearing raincoats and umbrellas in hand, We had that much confidence and trust in UAE, and therefore We invested blindly because of the trust and confidence in the UAE
When we were given umbrellas in hot weather but when it rained the umbrellas are being snatched now.
WE humbly request RERA to help us get our money back which we invested in UAE purely on trust and confidence.
Please Cancel all running projects which are completed less than 25% and return our money back to us.

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

advertisement

Real Estate Chief sees sales and valuations slump



It was a pleasure to read a candid and objective view from a real estate professional. The dire need of the hour is to take some urgent steps to spur demand and control supply. Some of the suggested measures are residence visa for minimum 10 years to expatriates buying property, UAE Central Bank must push banks to start lending albeit with prudent lending policies, milestone based payments to developers, price reduction by developers on existing off plan projects commensurate with the drop in construction costs, cancellation of projects that are yet to start and immediate refund of down payments, RERA must direct developers to complete projects on a "first in first out" basis.

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT



Posted on Saturday, 7 March 2009

Swimming naked in the sea & then when the waves retard you will be caught & found naked



Dubai property market and infact the whole of uae property market especially freehold leasehold ownership titles etc were like a father playing with his child. The father was throwing child up and the child was laughing , the more higher the child was thrown the more fun he got knowing fully that the father will catch him and wont allow him to fall down. But now it seems that the father is not taking care of the child. And all the media and real estate industry in uae are not at all transparent about the real situation of the worse real estate industry on the whole which is collapsing totally. All the projects which have not yet started or have been completed less than 40% must be stopped and then investors money must be returned because its not worth going ahead in these bad times. I hope RERE does this to prove that its taking care of all the parties involved in the real estate industry nicely

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

At Last



Finally, an honest real estate professional, rare breed these days. I am glad to hear someone from the inside finally admitting to the crash that many of us have been predicting for over a year. Time for those living in denial to wake up.

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Another chief has spoken



With due respect to the commentators.....I do not see anything new, same thing has been said 50 times earlier...beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder...you believe some and discredit others....the bottom line is what my friend of use to say on FM 103.9 in Los Angeles radio....... " What you see is a fact and what you don't see is myth....UAE market is going to behave the way it's want to, no matter what anybody says and it will follow the fundementals of Supply/Demand, Perception and last of all money liquidity......

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Real estate chief sees sales, valuations slump



This is the most honest and professional opinion stated by any real estate official or personnel in the UAE, the rest of them are here for the money and will abandon the country, employer, investors and anyone for their own welfare. This includes all the new entry professional firms that have suddenly appeared from the west professing to provide advice-they know nothing of market dynamics and only interested in fees.
At last there is an honest man who is prepared to tell and state the truth

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Honesty at last from an insider



I have waited for a very longtime for the property industry to say it like it is and to stop the lies and talking up of a market that no one really knows where it is headed.

The fact that he admits it, speaks volumes. I own a real estate company and have sat on the fence with my clients since May last year. The unrealistic price launch of Trump Twr was the real turning point for me. No way was that building going to be worth 13,000dhs/sqft of anyones money.

All it did was point to greed and false pricing. After that point I never sold a unit unless a client specifically wanted something. My clients have started buying again...slowly...but only what they percieve to be value. I sold 3 Springs 4m's last week for 1mil-dhs net. That looks like a good buy because even if the rents fall to 65k/villa its still a good long term investment.

Greens 1beds are now down to 700-750k...again they look attractive for the longterm investor with good rental returns. But they will fall further. I expect rents here to fall to 45-50k/annum for a 1bed.

Not everyone in real estate is out for their own short term gain. I've been here 6yrs and intend growing out of the gloom but with clients that trust my judgement not by lieing and pretending everything is ok. There is a lot wrong with the brokers in Dubai...hopefully the vast majority will leave by the end of the summer.

If anyone really wants to understand what is happening in the world economy and how it effects every nation including the UAE you should listen to the property show on Dubai Eye 103.8, Sundays at 12noon BUT only when MIKE SMALL of VSM is on the show. He is very articulate and explains the world economy and its effects very, very clearly. DO NOT listen to the words of the shows real estate brokers...they know absolutely nothing...and I should know...I hear them all the time. I see straight through their 'market talk' and hopefully the vast majority of this news site do too..

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

An honest man!



This is an honest and straight forward gentleman; who tells the truth even though he is in a business that is impacted totally by this down turn. He should be a role model to other who are just hidding their heads in the sand.

 

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT




Tell us your story

READER COMMENTS

  1. Deal sought on Dubai World, Nakheel debts 19
    27 Nov ' 09 at 09:44
    Sultan what you are suggesting for them to do is called propaganda. True journalists didn't get into this profession to write fluff to...   More  »
  2. UAE real estate market has now hit bottom - analysts 04
    27 Nov ' 09 at 00:48
    Arabian Business has serious credibility issues to serve up this slop after Dubai has just defaulted. What expert analysts? Send them...   More  »
  3. Dubai debts crisis: latest news 02
    27 Nov ' 09 at 09:52
    Dubai will evolve and will be back stronger than ever before.For those of you with good memories, Russia defaulted on their GKOs in...   More  »

Read all user comments >

Gitex 2009

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM