Year in review: Dubai real estate (page 2 of 3)

Indian investors bought a total of 2,153 properties valued at Dhs3.751bn, while Pakistanis came second with a total of 1,814 properties at Dhs1.713bn. British investors bought a total of 1,564 properties worth Dhs2.529bn in the first half of 2012, ranking third.

September

• Emaar announced that all 542 units released for sale off-plan at the The Address The BVLD serviced residences were sold out on the first day, with customers queuing up to two days in advance to place an order at the company's sales centre. Prices ranged from Dhs1.1m ($299,500) for a studio to over Dhs6m ($1.6m) for a 4-bedroom unit.

October

• The Meydan Group announced a major new community development and tower project. Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid is a new five-hectare housing scheme in Nad Al Sheba that will feature 190,000m2 of canals and lagoons. The Meydan Group also relaunched its stalled 72-storey Meydan Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, originally proposed by the group in 2009 as its first venture outside its Meydan City development. Meydan Tower will contain homes, offices, shops and hotels.
• Dubai's status as a safe haven for Middle East and North Africa investors has helped boost villa prices in the emirate by 19.9% in the first nine months of this year, according to the Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index. The rise makes Dubai the second best performing market of the 26 cities tracked by the index. "Cities such as Dubai, Miami, Nairobi and London are increasingly considered investment hubs for high net worth individuals in their wider regions," the report said.
• The total value of property transactions in Dubai reached more than $22.6bn in the first nine months of 2012, said Sultan Butti Bin Mejrin, director general of the Dubai Land Department. He said the emirate saw 27,452 transactions at a rate of 150 daily deals and 20 per hour. "The property transactions have become more mature and the investors are now much more aware. The market offers multiple-choices and Dubai property sector showed high flexibility in dealing with investors' requirements and trends during the first 9 months," he added.
• Nakheel reported that its net profit for the first nine months of the year nearly doubled, led by property handovers and growing business in its retail and leasing segment. Net profit for the nine months ended September 30 was Dhs1.1bn ($299.5m), up from Dhs600m in the year-ago period.
• Citigroup issued a report claiming that the upsurge in demand for Dubai property is being driven by 'refugee capital from buyers facing geo-political risk and currency depreciation in their domestic markets, e.g. India, Iran, Pakistan and Egypt'. However, the report warned that this revival may be short-lived and focused on specific buildings rather than large-scale projects.
• Tamweel, a UAE-based Islamic home mortgage company, said in October that 90% of homebuyers in the UAE were end-users based on analysis of home finance extended by them between January 2011 and June 2012. The company said though average finance-to-value ratio stood at 80% in 2008, currently the ratio stood at 75%, which indicated end-users were seeking to keep their leveraging to minimum.

November

• Nakheel announced that it closed land sales worth $114m for two plots on Palm Jumeirah and 122 plots on its Jumeirah Village Circle development. Company chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: "Real estate in Dubai is on the move again.