Hesham Delineates the Ways to Maintain Price Rise

With Dubai real estate market coming back on its track, Hesham Elfar of Coldwell Banker UAE delineated the postulates to ensure that it stays the same way.

Dubai developers along with the realty agents are wondering after the watching the price rise in properties that whether the market has really bottomed out. Commenting on this Hesham Elfar, CEO of Coldwell Banker UAE, said, “One thing is for sure, if we have not reached the bottom, we are very close to the bottom."

According to Hesham’s predictions, there may be a further plunge in prices before things progress. "In the next six months, villa prices should remain stable while apartments might see a drop of 5-7 per cent due to excess supply expected in the coming months. With commercial properties we are expecting a downtrend in prices, also due to upcoming supply."

The players of the realty world however, must not become too contented. Hesham believes that there is a lot more to be done before Dubai can spring back. "Firstly, the residence visa issue should be re-evaluated, as this has lured a lot of people into investing in real estate in Dubai. They have replaced the three-year visa with a six-month multiple entry visa, which is expensive and requires a lot of paperwork. It makes life more complicated; with this visa people cannot buy a car here or place their kids in school. It's very important to resolve this issue, because it will attract foreign investors."

Hesham added that in order to fuel the commercial market, incentives should be offered to the companies to set up shops in the UAE by the governments. "When companies set up offices in a country they create job opportunities, housing requirements and increase consumer spending -this is important for the economy. They should especially offer incentives to financial institutions and trading companies."

But primarily, the industry needs lucidity, he added. “They need to have clear, transparent regulations in real estate and ensure that buyers' rights are protected."