Dubai: Amlak Finance PJSC, the UAE's biggest mortgage lender by market value, temporarily stopped granting new home loans as the global credit crisis threatens Dubai's property market and pushes mortgage providers to restructure.
"We are reviewing our existing credit policy to ensure optimum servicing of existing and prospective accounts," Dubai-based Amlak's Chief Executive Officer Arif Al Harmi said in an e-mailed response to questions by Bloomberg News.
Most vulnerable
Dubai is bracing for a slowdown in the property market as economic growth slumps and oil prices fall. The city is considered the most vulnerable place in the Gulf to lower oil prices as real-estate and debt financing pose risks, Citigroup Inc. said today.
Outstanding mortgage loans in the UAE almost doubled in the year through June as property prices soared to a record. Mortgage loans leaped 92 per cent to Dh87.6 billion, compared with annual growth of 55 per cent in March, the central bank said yesterday.
