Decreasing property prices experience by property buyer’s with value below selling price

Property price comes down in Dubai are making real estate investment opportunities in a customer’s market that is expected to see increasing demand, concordant to a fresh report. Softer prices provide potential property buyers a strong negotiating position across all real estate sectors and this ‘favourable’ position is growing demand and making selected pockets of growth despite a general slide in prices, concordant to the current report from property consultants Cluttons.

Cluttons, the real estate specialist that has revelled a dedicated presence in the Middle East since 1976, says its market report for the second quarter of 2010 points that in the residential market buyers are capable to negotiate with greater effect and all properties are under pressure to sell at competitive prices, often well at a lower selling price.

The industrial and logistics areas are also following this style, with landlords now accepting the decision to offer long lease agreements, a brand-new step for the Emirate. ‘This move demonstrates increasing maturity in the market and will provide increased benefits to tenants, who are competent to dictate their needs during the negotiation process. The best performing Industrial area in Dubai is the JAFZA, and in specific JAFZA North, an area that provides premium warehousing in conditions of price and Free Zone status,’ it says.

The commercial area is also skewed towards the occupant, with oversupply permitting cost conscious tenants to migrate to offices offering lower rents in competitive buildings. ‘This is an ideal time for businesses looking to upgrade or downmarket their existing office space within Dubai. The areas that are accommodating their value best continue to be the DIFC and Downtown's Emaar Business Square, but even these are under raised pressure from other office zones such as Deira and Bur Dubai,’ the report adds.

‘Ongoing price reductions have opened up the Dubai property market for a broader selection of potential buyers, who are becoming progressively discerning in their property search. Whereas once the landlord or seller accommodated an strong position, we now see buyers negotiating with landlords to bring prices well below the asking price,’ said Steve Morgan, head of Cluttons UAE.

‘Evenly, pressure from occupiers in the commercial and logistics sectors, has entailed that landlords have had to increase lease length, which we feel to be a confident step for the market. The continuing deflation of prices, whilst painful in the short term is setting Dubai up well in the Global arena to benefit from expansion of existing and move of new business into the city as the Global economies start to recover,’ he added.

Cluttons also released reports on the property market Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and Saudi Arabia looking at the affect of the current economic situation on real estate markets throughout the region.

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Infinity Tower- the world's tallest high rise building with a twist

Infinity Tower is a skyscraper under construction by Palma Real Estate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The project resumed construction in July 2008, after a delay caused by the collapse of a nearby wall and subsequent flooding of the construction site.
Construction of the 330 m (1,080 ft) building began in February 2006 and when completed in 2010, it will have 73 stories and be the world's tallest high rise building with a twist of 90˚. The tower will twist exactly like the Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden, and will be the tallest to do so. Each floor is rotated by 1.2˚ to achieve the full 90˚ spiral, creating the shape of a helix. The Tower will have residential apartments, conference rooms, tennis courts, pools, a state of the art gymnasium, a nursery and a spa. An earlier design was for a taller, darker tower 372 m (1,220 ft) tall with 93 floors.





The Project of the property development company CAYAN, its architects were Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and will be located in the Dubai Marina.
As of March 2010, 57 floors have been completed.

Apartment owners face huge bills for upkeep of their blocks

DUBAI-Hundreds of apartment buildings in Dubai are facing a shortage of maintenance cash because property owners have failed to pay service fees.

The full extent of the default rate, which has reached 75 per cent in some developments, is only now coming to light as developers hand over building management responsibilities to homeowner associations under the recently enacted strata law.

It means that the new homeowner groups could be saddled with debt as soon as they start taking over the management of their buildings.

For example, to replace a basic chiller in a tower building costs up to Dh3 million – and if there is no reserve fund in place because of service charge defaults, owners would have to foot the entire bill when the work was done.

“Service fee arrears is a big issue in many buildings,” said Gary Bugden, the executive chairman of PRDnationwide, a property services company. “A lot of people just aren’t paying.”

The amount paid in service fees has been a bone of contention for residents in some developments, where property prices have fallen by as much as half since the end of 2008.

Service fees surged during the boom years, with some developers charging up to Dh21.85 a square foot in annual fees, or more than Dh20,000 for a typical one-bedroom flat. Property owners started refusing to pay, either for services they felt were not provided or shared amenities that were poorly maintained.

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