Photo: Khaleej Times

Dubai house prices halved from a year ago, almost reaching 2007 levels, as tighter mortgage lending and concerns among expatriates about job security hindered the market’s recovery, Colliers CRE Plc said.

Home prices in the desert sheikhdom dropped 48 percent from a year ago, sliding 9 percent during the second quarter to an average of 949 dirhams ($258) per square-foot (0.09 square meters). The rate of decline decelerated “dramatically” compared to the first quarter’s 42 percent slump, Colliers said in a research report today.
Dubai’s property market was among the most hurt worldwide by the global financial crisis. Home prices have tumbled by about 50 percent from their peak and may drop another 20 percent this year, Deutsche Bank AG said in June. The market’s collapse followed a construction boom that created thousands of homes just as demand began to evaporate amid the global recession.
“In the coming months the market will be searching for further evidence of market stabilization as we draw nearer to the bottom of market prices,” Ian Albert, the company’s regional director, said in the report. “Thankfully, the magnitude of the decline that occurred in the first quarter was not, and is now very unlikely to be repeated.”
Colliers expects fourth-quarter prices to be a better indicator of future trends in Dubai’s real estate market as data can be distorted by the traditionally quiet periods during the summer holiday and holy month of Ramadan.

Rol.vn - Source