Property boom to continue

Speaking at the MONEYworks Property Regulation Summit in Dubai on the 4th March, Juma bin Ahmed Al Ghurair, chairman of Al Manal Development, said that the UAE's property sector will continue on an upcycle for a long time.

However, he also added that the tremendous pace of growth has lead to raw material shortages, thus affecting delivery.

'One of the things that we have noticed during the past several years is the dramatic increase in the cost of construction. This is not a good thing for the market and must be addressed. There are also raw material shortages in the market. We have a problem with availability of cement. Even if we are ready to pay, it is not available,' he said.

Al Ghurair said that contractors are facing many logistical difficulties in getting their jobs done, thus affecting the real estate market adversely. He urged the government to step in to resolve some of the issues.

'We feel the government needs to look at the situation and reduce the speed at which the economy is growing. There is also a need to curb inflation, which is affecting everyone,' he said.

The MONEYworks Property Summit mainly discussed issues pertaining to the recently passed Joint Property Ownership law.

It also looked at the scope of participation of investment funds in the development of the UAE's property development. Participants at the summit debated the various challenges facing the UAE property sector and suggested solutions.

Eng. Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalita, CEO of Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), disclosed that all bylaws to the recently passed Joint Property Ownership law in Dubai have been written and will be passed in April. However, he added that the bylaws will be first discussed with all stakeholders before being published in the Official Gazette.

Giving RERA due credit for what it has achieved to date, he said that any good market should have rules, regulations and transparent systems with enough data, something that Dubai and RERA have been putting in place for the real estate sector.

Mark Freeman, head of sales and marketing, MONEYworks Group of Magazines, said that the summit aimed to create a healthy debate and discussion about the opportunities and challenges in the UAE's real estate sector. He added that a research report documenting all discussions at the summit will be released next month with MONEYworks.

'As a publication house, we will continue to hold these summits with the aim of creating healthy industry debates in the future,' he said.