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Real Estate

Real estate, property, construction and infrastructure news from the Middle East. All the important stories, plus authoritative opinion and analysis.

Dubai property

Dubai rents soar by over 20% as inflation bites

Dubai residential rents rocketed by 21.7 percent on average in the 12 months to June 2022, more than double the mean growth in sales prices. The total volume of transactions in Dubai’s residential market reached 7,941 in June 2022, up 33.3 percent year-on-year, said research from real estate consultancy firm CBRE released today. In the […]

Gulf home buyers eye Battersea Power Station in London

Gulf investors are snapping up London properties beyond the traditional smart neighbourhoods such as Chelsea and Kensington, north of the river Thames. With a weak pound offering great purchasing power for Gulf currencies and an upcoming visa liberalisation for GCC countries with Britain, MENA-based property investors are flocking to England’s capital.  And Arab buyers have […]

Sanctions won’t dampen Dubai property allure for Russians

The popularity of Dubai among Russian property buyers is unlikely to be dented by a US threat to impose sanctions on UAE banks who process their financial transactions, as most payments are made using cash or cryptocurrency. Dubai-based Mira Estate said its property sales to customers from Russia and the 11 other Commonwealth of Independent […]

Audience, Person, Crowd

Judge in Trump case fines real estate firm $10,000 a day

A New York judge on Tuesday held real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield PLC in contempt of court for not producing documents subpoenaed in a probe of former US President Donald Trump’s business practices. The judge ordered the company to be fined $10,000 a day until it complied. Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating […]

Arab investors can get to London more easily now

Prime London property one third cheaper for Arab investors

Wealthy buyers of prime London property have already seen prices fall since the start of this year, but Gulf buyers have been enjoying an additional dollar discount bonus thanks to their home currencies being pegged to the US currency. “The dollar has strengthened against all major currencies including the pound since January,” said Liam Bailey, […]

The smart city will be based in Riyadh and house 44,000 people

Zero-carbon smart city in Riyadh to house 44,000

A Dubai-based architecture firm is working on designs for a 10km2, zero-carbon smart city in Saudi Arabia which will provide homes for 44,000 people. URB, which is headquartered in Dubai Design District, said it has completed the concept stage for ALNAMA Smart City and will soon begin the detailed design stage. Set to be located […]

Mamad Kashani Akhavan, CEO, Powerhouse Real Estate

What does your company do?  We’re aiming to reinvent real estate by educating brokers and expanding their knowledge in the field. We’ve implemented a simple training programme for each new joiner to ensure their quality of performance in the market. Once they’re released into what we call “the sales floor”, they’re ready to enter the […]

High Rise, Urban, City

Freeze on Russians selling boosts luxury London house prices

The war in Ukraine is making it hard for even unsanctioned Russians to sell exclusive residential property in Britain, adding to a shortage of supply that has helped drive up house prices in prime locations, real estate sources say. Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern oil barons and billionaire Chinese entrepreneurs have been on a spending spree […]

Prices are soaring for residential properties in Business Bay

Dubai ‘repivots’ city centre as Business Bay prices soar

Dubai is witnessing a “repivoting” of its city centre, with residential prices soaring in Business Bay, according to analysts. Values in Business Bay have risen by nearly 17 percent in the last two years, pointing to the redefining of Dubai’s centre, said global property consultant, Knight Frank, in a new research note. The wider Central […]

Path, Walkway, Motorcycle

Russian buyers help Turkish house sales double in May

Turkish home sales surged 107.5 percent in May over last year to 122,768 houses, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed on Wednesday, with Russians topping foreign buyers for a second consecutive month. Sales to foreigners jumped 235.7 percent year-on-year to 5,962 units, the institute said. Russian citizens topped the list again in May with […]

358% rise in licences turbocharges Riyadh office rents

Office buildings in Riyadh have seen a surge in rental rates and occupancy levels, as the Saudi capital begins to see the benefits from a new policy to encourage international companies to set up their regional headquarters in the city. In February last year, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to transform Riyadh into […]

High-end cash purchases are keeping the market bouyant

Half-year house sales prompt cautious optimism in Dubai

Transactions of villas and apartments were so strong in the first five months of this year that analysts believe Dubai can withstand the battering that global inflation usually brings. An estimated total of AED61.9bn of property deals were completed between January and May, suggesting that the emirate’s market is fending off any threat from record […]

One in five queries for Dubai homes from Russians

Russian speaking investors continue to look to the emirate’s real estate for deals, as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies Investors from Russia and the 11 other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries now represent more than 20 percent of potential homebuyers in Dubai. The average ticket size ranges from AED 2.5 million ($680,000) for individuals […]

Global real estate frenzy fades, as some markets slow

Huge price rises of as much as 50 percent in last few years In Dubai analysts agree affordability will worsen Many have resigned themselves to renting over owning, driving up rents The global property market frenzy that gathered pace during the pandemic as people scrambled to buy more living space is likely over as interest […]