A lack of Dubai property sales and a rise in property auctions featuring repossessed homes in Dubai is delaying a recovery in the market because prospective homebuyers are unable to gauge exactly how far Dubai property prices have actually fallen in the past two years.
“There are very few transactions at the moment,' said Craig Plumb, head of Middle East research at Jones Lang LaSalle. “We are not going to see the bottom of the market until we see transactions through the foreclosure process.”
Various reports suggest that home prices across various parts of the emirate have fallen by up to 60 per cent since the Dubai property market crashed in 2008.
Mr Plump said that figures provided by the Dubai Land Department are too incomplete to provide a valuable guide to selling prices.
A number of investors abandoned Dubai property investments and left the country, while others tried to renegotiate contracts after falling into negative equity, following the credit crunch. The market has since struggled to recover, and is reliant on a rise in sales, in order to stabilse and realise growth, once more.
Dubai property auctions, designed to offload the plethora of vacant homes in Dubai, is expected to help the market bottom out faster.
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