Dubai: The need of the hour for the property market in Dubai is to finetune regulations governing the sector and put finishing touches on developments, developers and regulators say.
Off-plan sales are obsolete and most projects are nearing completion.
According to Ziad Al Chaar, managing director at Damac properties, Dubai's real estate market can be classified into two segments; one in which the infrastructure is ready and the other in which it isn't. "Today a big portion of real estate in Dubai is either on the way to being completed or is completed. As a developer we need to step up again and promote our completed properties," he said.
Dr Martin Berlin, group chief strategy officer at Dubai Properties Group, said that in order to attract interest in these completed developments, developers must focus on building up infrastructure and amenities.
"What will bring interest back to the market is installing amenities, infrastructure and community services. The market has developed from a ‘build it and they will come' market to a ‘build what the customer demands market," he said.
According to Jones Lang Lasalle's Real Estate Transparency Index 2010, Dubai was ranked highest in terms of transparency in the region while AT Kearney's Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index ranked Dubai at No 11.
Recent statistics
While recent statistics show that Dubai has been at the forefront of transparency in the region, there are still regulations that must be put in place in order to attract increased foreign investment.
"What is important now if you launch a new project or development is that you need to meet the demand. The regulatory environment is going in that direction," said Dr Berlin.
Recently, the Dubai Land Department announced a programme called Tanmia aimed at helping stalled projects by finding investors for them. According to the Land Department, more than 100 developments may benefit from the programme.
According to Mahmoud Al Burla, senior director, real estate, at the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) and Executive director of the Dubai Real Estate Institute, Rera is looking to introduce a number of initiatives which are currently in their draft phase. These include a judicial committee for owners' associations, which will provide legal protection to owners associations, the Developers' Ranking Project which will rank developers based on a five-point criteria so buyers know where to invest, the Dubai Transparency Improvement Project, and the Investor Protection Law.