Dubai property faces short-term Brexit effects

Dubai has long been popular among British property buyers with UK citizens emerging as the second largest investors in the emirate's real estate last year.

A straw poll by Dubai's real estate portal - propertyfinder.ae - of several of the emirate's top real estate agencies has indicated that the anticipated 'Brexit effect' has reached the local market.

Although still early days after the controversial referendum in June which saw the United Kingdom vote to withdraw from the European Union, international markets have been waiting anxiously to see what the larger implications will be.

According to an early gathering of feedback from propertyfinder.ae's partners, there are already two distinct short-term effects being felt in Dubai.

On the one hand, a small but noticeable number of UK owners with property for sale in the emirate have reduced their asking prices - taking advantage of the weak pound against the dollar/dirham.

On the other hand, a number of UK investors that had expressed interest in buying here are now apparently holding back.

"We always keep close tabs on the performance of the local market, so post-Brexit, we have been putting out feelers with the leading agencies to see what the mood is - and they have reported these parallel trends, which were to be expected," said Lukman Hajje, chief commercial officer at propertyfinder.ae.

"But we would predict that this UK seller/buyer shift is temporary - it is yet to be seen what the true effect of Brexit will be on the Dubai real estate market. Indeed, we could be in for a few surprises."
Hajje revealed that propertyfinder.ae had seen an eight per cent drop in traffic from the UK immediately after the announcement - a "significant figure" - although this has begun picking up again in the last couple of weeks.

Dubai has long been popular among British property buyers with UK citizens emerging as the second largest investors in the emirate's real estate last year. According to the Dubai Land Department, they invested £1.9 billion in 2015.

- business@khaleejtimes.com