Mazaya Monthly Real Estate Report - February 2014
In Dubai, a Land Department report shows
real estate investment in 2013 exceeded
AED236bn, an annual increase of 54
percent on 2012. Likewise, Qatar saw a
15.5 percent rise fromQR39bn toQR45bn.
It is expected these rates of increase will
be supported for the forseeable future by
heavy government infrastructure spending.
In 2014, this report predicts, the region’s
investors will choose to put their money
into real estate or to use it instead for
investing in stocks and shares, given
the similar opportunities for return
on investment both options present.
In 2014, Al Mazaya expects to see
increased stability in the Gulf real estate
sector and improved balance between
supply and demand. As a result, values
will rise and sellers will try to delay the
moment of sale to maximise value. We
expect, too, to see increased inflows of
liquidity, both from local investors and
from overseas. The bigest challenges
the sector faces will be to greenlight a
sufficiently large diversity of projects to
satisfy all types of investment demand and
to ensure that the market, while regulated,
does not become slowed by red tape.
4
The attraction of the stock market is the
ability for investors to liquidate postions
quickly and minimise losses, if the need
arises. Real estate, to be seen as an
attractive investment, needs to present
credentials to market that include low
volatility and safe haven status. It is
worth pointing out that in 2013, bourses
in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia saw average stock gains of 108
percent, 63 percent, 27 percent 17
percent and nine percent respectively.
Returns on real estate investments in
those countries during the same period
ranged from nine to twelve percent.
