Property sales in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have ground to a near standstill and resale prices have dropped for the first time due to the global financial crisis, agents have said.
Off-plan sales have been the hardest hit as speculators struggle to sell on their properties because potential buyers are finding it more difficult to secure financing, UAE daily The National reported on Sunday.
Speculators then face problems meeting instalments plans, forcing them to lower prices in an effort to make a quick sale, the newspaper said.
“It has been going on for a week now. I have seen prices going down about 10 percent everywhere, even in Dubai Marina and Downtown Burj Dubai,” Khaled Elqassim, the sales manager at Dubai-based property broker AAA, was quoted as saying.
“Pretty much all the secondary market is trading at less than it was before the financial crisis,” Karen Lay, the marketing manager at LLJ Properties in Abu Dhabi, was quoted as saying.
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