There are signs of optimism in the country's property market as banks increase lending and prices stabilise in some areas, analysts and brokers say.
While prices slid further across the Emirates in the final quarter of the year, distress sales had dried up and the difference between vendors' asking prices and what buyers were offering appeared to be narrowing.
Mortgages for property held by banks regulated by the Central Bank totalled Dh163.2 billion (US$44.43) at the end of September from Dh141.7bn at the end of 2009, official data show. Majed Azzam, an analyst at Alembic HC Securities, said yesterday that pointed to the fact that "liquidity appears to be gradually returning to the sector".
An element of the mortgages that appear on the books of companies increases as properties are handed over, which is usually tied to a final large payment to the developer.
However, Mr Azzam said his analysis of official records from the Dubai Land Department showed mortgages were increasing across the emirate.
Property prices declined a total of 5 per cent last year, he said, but added that pockets of stability had formed in established neighbourhoods and higher-quality buildings.
"We are expecting some more weakness in prices, but we don't expect any more massive drops," Mr Azzam said.
"Prices are already very depressed. The distressed sellers are out of the market now."
Asteco, an estate agency and property manager based in Dubai, recorded more mortgages near the end of 2010 than any time since the market collapsed at the end of 2008, said Elaine Jones, Asteco's chief executive.
"What's happened, from our perspective, is that a lot more people have become settled than before," Ms Jones said.
"A lot of people were quite afraid they were losing their jobs, and weren't buying property … We are definitely seeing an increase now."
A two-tier market had emerged, with finished properties in desirable locations at one end and unfinished or more remote buildings at the other.
Prices for homes on the Palm Jumeirah have dropped to just above 2004 prices but appeared to be bottoming out , Ms Jones said.
Banks were coming to the conclusion that the market had declined low enough to enable them to risk their cash reserves as long as loan to value ratios - the amount of the purchase price they provide in a loan - remained in the 75 per cent range.
Theoretically, that way they would only lose money if prices dropped another 25 per cent, said John Davis, the chief executive of the Middle East office of the property consultancy Colliers.
"We believe more banks are going to be coming into the market in 2011," he said. But the influx of more than 30,000 units will keep pushing prices down slowly, with some areas remaining strong because of their high desirability, Mr Davis said.
More office tenants are expected to make moves in Dubai this year as they seek to take advantage of more competitive prices.
bhope@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed PDK
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 820Nm
Price: Dh683,200
On sale: now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
I Feel Pretty
Dir: Abby Kohn/Mark Silverstein
Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
South and West: From a Notebook
Joan Didion
Fourth Estate
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Scream%20VI
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Matt%20Bettinelli-Olpin%20and%20Tyler%20Gillett%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Melissa%20Barrera%2C%20Jasmin%20Savoy%20Brown%2C%20Jack%20Champion%2C%20Dermot%20Mulroney%2C%20Jenna%20Ortega%2C%20Hayden%20Panettiere%20and%20Courteney%20Cox%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The specs
Price: From Dh529,000
Engine: 5-litre V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 520hp
Torque: 625Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.8L/100km
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results:
6.30pm: Maiden | US$45,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres
Winner: Tabarak, Royston Ffrench (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap | $175,000 (Turf) | 3,200m
Winner: Dubhe, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,600m
Winner: Estihdaaf, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor
8.15pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,800m
Winner: Nordic Lights, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.50pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 2 | $450,000 (D) | 1,900m
Winner: North America, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
9.25pm: Handicap | $175,000 (T) | 1,200m
Winner: Mazzini, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
10pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,400m.
Winner: Mubtasim, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5