UAE. Dubai's property price growth slowed in March and rental yields
deteriorated, said Al Mal Capital, a United Arab Emirates-based
investment bank.
Residential properties increased 2.7% in value in March from
February, down from 7.8% a month earlier, Al Mal said in a statement to
Bloomberg yesterday. Commercial property prices grew 1.8%, compared
with 4 percent in February.
Property prices in Dubai have soared since foreigners were given the
right to own real estate in limited areas in 2002 and demand
outstripped supply on record population growth. Real estate is a
growing segment of the UAE economy and Emaar Properties, the largest
real-estate developer in the Middle East, is the biggest company on the
Emirate's stock exchange.
"Price appreciation has slowed from the extremely strong pace
experienced in January and February,'' said Robert McKinnon, an analyst
at Al Mal. "With a year-over-year price increase of 33.6% in the
residential segment and 36.8% in the commercial segment, our
expectation for 28% price appreciation for the whole of 2008 may prove
to be conservative.''
This is the first time that Al Mal has published its real- estate price index.
Residential rental yields in Dubai fell to 7.3% in March from 7.6%
in February and 7.9% from a year earlier, said Al Mal. Rental yields
express a year's rent divided by the value of the property.
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