The perfect time to buy a property is now.
The UAE real estate experts said that the significant levels of volatility in the economy is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, so the property prices won’t go up anytime in the next year, but it’s reccomanded to keep an eye out for opportunities in buying and renting. Along with tourism, hospitality and other industries, wholesale and retail trade, transport and logistics, the impact of Covid-19 on real estate has also been significant as a result of severely impinged economic activity and extended cuts in Opec oil production.
Mahmoud AlBurai, vice-president of the International Real Estate Federation of Arab Countries, sees this as a buyer’s market with more opportunities. “Maybe the Dubai Expo next year will be a turning point for a stronger real estate market as demand will start to pick up driven by the influx of tourists and trade,” he says. Anyway the best moment to buy a property could be only this becouse right now the developers sell the products close to cost (at almost Dh650 per square foot).
Now everything in the market is affordable and everything is available like Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of Fam Properties, says. The secondary market is now picking up at the expense of off-plan properties. the off-plan properties could have some delayed because of the uncertainty of the market after the Covid-19.
The number of off-plan project launches will also decline and there will be better finance options.
In recent weeks, developers with ongoing projects have been going through their cashflow positions, and where possible making cuts. There have been multiple instances of contractors being told to rework the costs, industry sources say. Contractors, on their part, are bracing for delays on payments due.
By and large, there have not been any project cancellations. The leading names in the local real estate development space are still seeing through their priority projects. Only those projects that are yet to launch construction works are getting a re-look on whether they should go ahead or not.
Lower interest rates may stimulate the secondary market and result in a rise in end users”.
“There are a lot of enquiries, but people are not in a hurry to invest,” says Msaddi. “It is also interesting to see that sellers are not as desperate to sell as we had seen in 2009. We do not have crazy distressed sales in this market like we saw during the earlier financial downturn. One of the reasons could be that people who have purchased property during the slow years of 2016 and 2019 have been genuine buyers and not speculators”.
More people also now realise the importance of a bigger space with demand for larger apartments and upgrades to villas and town houses seeing an upward trend. A report by the International Property Institute says Covid-19 made it important to have spacious apartments with balconies, as well as green features, sports facilities and walkable/biking areas.
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