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RERA Aims to Restore Property Confidence

The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) would carry out inspections on all 695 registered developments to see which ones have been put on hold in the face of the global economic crisis, the agency saidon Wednesday.

RERA plans to publish the findings of its site inspections, including photographs and progress indicators, on its Web site.

The inspection plan comes amid a sharp drop in property prices in Dubai. The value of property transactions has fallen by 45 per cent over the past 12 months — from Dh26 billion during the two months January and February 2008 to Dh14 billion during the same two months of this year, the agency said.

“The value of sales transactions has also fallen by 40 per cent, but the number of transactions has stayed near enough the same,” said RERA Chief Executive Officer Marwan bin Ghalita.

However, Ali H Zaidi, Chief Executive Officer of Centurion Real Estate company, noted that the market peaked in value well after January 2008.

“If they contrasted the figures from August 2008 to January 2009, you would probably see a 50 to 60 per cent drop in value,” he said.

About 27 property projects have already been cancelled.

This figure could increase and push the cancellation rate to as much as 20 per cent, bin Ghalita said.

RERA has been inundated with property disputes in recent months as projects grind to a halt due to a lack of financing.

The number of developers has fallen from 870 to 427 over the past two years, and lawyers say that more could be culled as the government tightens restrictions on off-plan developers.

martin@khaleejtimes.com

aneela@khaleejtimes.com