Dubai Property Investor Warning

Investors buying property in Dubai for a quick profit could actually be harming the future of Dubai booming housing market. These were the comments made the head of Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency

 

Over the last few years the popularity of Dubai real estate has been consistent with most properties being bought off plan. The Emirates population is growing rapidly and is expected to increase from the present level of 1.67 million to 3.5 million by 2010.  Estimates suggest that 800 new international residents set up home in Dubai each day, meaning demand consistently outstrips supply and ensuring the property market remains buoyant.

 

Investors are known to buy property in Dubai one day and sell the next making huge profits however speculators and developers seeking a quick buck in Dubai pose a growing danger to the emirate’s booming $300bn property market

 

“The market needs to slow down,” Marwan bin Ghalita, chief executive of Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency, or Rera, told Zawya Dow Jones in a recent interview. “There are too many speculators and they can hurt the real estate market. Real estate isn’t like the stock market, it’s a long term investment,” he said. “Only in Dubai you see people flipping apartments to make fast money and this isn’t helping the market.”

 

Rera was set up last year to tighten up the emirate’s real estate regulations to attract more foreign investors from places such as the UK, Russia and India.

 

Dubai’s real estate market is at the centre of the Gulf region’s construction surge. More than one-third of the estimated $1.2tn in projects under way in the region is in the UAE, according to a report by the London-based Middle East Economic Digest.