Property News: Selling

The local real estate has been the subject of much conjecture in recent months. But with local Purchasing Manager Indexes screaming an economic recovery this autumn, and US interest rates slated to fall pointing to lower-cost dirham mortgages, wary buyers risk missing the very bottom of the five-year bear market in UAE residential property.

The latest data from Reidin, a global real estate information company, showed 3,200 off-plan completions in the first five months of 2019, compared with 13,700 for the … Read more ›

UAE residents spend more time researching, looking through property listings and viewing homes than people in nine other countries, according to a new survey from HSBC.

The survey, conducted by Europe’s biggest bank by assets in November and December of last year, polled 11,932 adults aged 21 and over in the US, Canada, Mexico, France, the UK, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and the UAE, which included 1,058 participants.

People in the UAE spend an average of 6.6 hours per week “window shopping” … Read more ›

For the last two weeks, Dubai resident Melanie Swan has been looking for a home to rent. She has a clear idea about what she wants: A three-bedroom villa in a quiet and peaceful community, preferably in the Ranches or the areas around it. Interestingly, her search for her dream home has thrown up challenges along the way – from fake listings to colluding agents, to time wasted by landlords who have listed their properties with multiple brokers, creating a … Read more ›

Two old friends contacted me for a chat about buying property this week. This time, however, they were actually doing it and not just talking about it.

The conversation was more along the lines of whether you should ever issue a cheque before signing a MoU (no, is my answer) than theorising about the prospect of a recovery in house prices. However, this was my first experience of what could potentially turn into a Spring recovery.

Perhaps I see this as more … Read more ›

Middle East real estate portal Property Finder Group targets up to 50 per cent annual growth in revenues and website users in the near term, as it invests in new staff and technology after clinching $120 million (Dh440.7m) in its latest funding round, announced on Monday.

The Dubai-based company, which has operations across eight markets in the Middle East and North Africa, is also open to acquisitions, after investing in a Turkish firm last year, and may consider an initial public … Read more ›

The UAE has introduced new laws this year that effectively widen the range of possibilities for expatriates to be more deeply involved in the long-term economic growth of the country. Many of the policy changes mainly concern foreign business ownership, visa regulations and curbing the cost of living.

In a country where 80 per cent of the population is made up of foreign residents from all over the world, the new regulations are viewed as crucial in efforts to tap further … Read more ›