Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Real Estate: UAE banks avoid loans to real estate firms

Large-scale lending to real estate projects in the United Arab Emirates -- Dubai in particular -- is some way off, as banks remain selective in their financing, executives told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit.
Dubai's once-booming property sector has been hardest hit in the Gulf Arab region, with billions of dollars worth of projects put on hold or cancelled while financing for real estate projects all but dried up.

"Banks are still reluctant to lend to real estate," Sameer al-Ansari, chief executive at investment bank Shuaa Capital told the Summit in Dubai on Tuesday. "We see a slow return to very selective mortgage lending and where we see it, it is lending where there is very limited risk (but) major real estate lending by the banks ... I don't see that coming."
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NEW PROJECTSHouse prices in Dubai have fallen some 60 percent from their peaks in 2008 largely due to oversupply, which Colliers estimates to be around 20 percent, but there is some interest in Dubai again.
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In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, which has fared better than Dubai during the downturn, 2011 is seen as another year of consolidation, with developers focusing on completion and handover of projects.

"In Abu Dhabi there were lots of projects that were suspended and there were many projects that were re-tendered, but very few have been awarded," Makhzoumi said.


(C) Maktoob.com

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