Property | UAE
Freehold visa to be finalised
The six-month freehold visa, set to be launched this month, will encourage investors to buy property in Dubai, industry experts say.
- By Suzanne Fenton/GN and Binesh Panicker, sub-editor
- Published: 23:01 March 1, 2009
- Image Credit:
- Loccal developers say the residency visa will boost the market.
Dubai: The six-month freehold visa, set to be launched this month, will encourage investors to buy property in Dubai, industry experts say.
The UAE federal government has finalised plans for a long-awaited freehold visa for investors. Local developers and brokers say the move will boost the slow-moving property market in Dubai. The introduction of a national freehold visa law is expected to increase transparency and confidence in the shaken real estate sector.
"This is good news and a much needed 'tonic' for the market," Vince Easton, sales director, Sherwood Independent Property Brokers told .
"It comes at a time when there are signs of banks loosening their purse strings on mortgages and market price corrections levelling off. In theory this should also encourage existing buyers to continue their payments on properties already under construction, reduce the risk of defaults and hopefully kickstart the recovery."
The federal law will allow all owners to obtain a renewable six-month residency visa. However, some industry experts say that a six-month timeframe is too short to bring back confidence to the market.
Ahmad Shaikhani, managing director of Memon Investments, says that while the law is a positive step to attract more investors, it is not necessarily a long-term decision.
"I believe this cannot be a permanent solution, it is a USP [unique selling point] that can potentially help players market their projects to foreigners. And [six months] is too short a time as such a period provides minimal security for buyers and investors," he says.
"We had hoped it would be for a full three years," says Easton. "It is clearly a measure that can boost the market by attracting overseas buyers, but these buyers may feel six months is too short to give them any real sense of security."
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