Dubai and Abu Dhabi Need 150,000 Jobs to Fill Homes

DUBAI — Dubai and Abu Dhabi need to create about 150,000 white-collar jobs to provide enough buyers for the houses and apartments being completed in the next two years, Nomura Holdings Inc. said.

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By (Reuters)

Published: Fri 16 Oct 2009, 10:56 PM

Last updated: Sun 5 Apr 2015, 9:55 PM

An estimated 65,000 residential units will be built in Dubai and 15,000 more in Abu Dhabi by 2011, even as the number of foreign workers declines, Chet Riley, a Dubai-based analyst at Nomura, said in a note to clients today.

“We estimate around 100,000 white-collar jobs at least would need to be created in Dubai and 50,000 in Abu Dhabi alone to satisfy oncoming supply,” Riley said in the note. “This is in an environment where jobs are being cut.”

Dubai’s majority expatriate population may drop 8 per cent this year and 2 per cent in 2010, UBS said in March.

The United Arab Emirates’ population will contract 5.5 per cent in 2009 as foreigners lose jobs and are forced to leave the country because of visa restrictions, according to EFG-Hermes Holding SAE.

Dubai’s residential market currently has a 25 per cent vacancy rate, compared with less than 5 per cent in Abu Dhabi, Riley wrote. Rents are expected to drop a further 10 per cent, the report added.

Raises Price Targets

Nomura upgraded targets on property firms in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday in the expectation the stabilising property market would pull stock prices out of their troughs faster than originally anticipated.

Nomura upgraded price targets of Aldar, Deyaar Development, Emaar Properties, Ras Al Khaimah properties, Sorouh Real estate, and Union Properties. Easing liquidity conditions following reports about the upcoming $10 billion Dubai government bond programme, also boosted optimism, the bank said, adding that likely defaults of some private property developers might open the door for “vulture” investment in distressed assets.

(Reuters)

Published: Fri 16 Oct 2009, 10:56 PM

Last updated: Sun 5 Apr 2015, 9:55 PM

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