70% of Emirati families own their own homes

Dubai: Seventy per cent of Emirati families own their own homes, it was revealed on Thursday.

Dr Abdullah Mohammad Bel Haif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, said it is a challenge to reach this number and it will be a bigger challenge to sustain this percentage until 2021.

“It is an achievement to reach 70 per cent, as the average is 40 per cent in all countries around us,” he said. Till recently, only 60 per cent of the Emirati families owned their own homes.

His statement came after attending the “National Agenda Forum” where he met with representatives of housing authorities and municipalities in the country to discuss Emirati homeowners index.

“The UAE government has taught us to identify the challenges and overcome them, and so we are not only aiming to maintain the 70 per cent, but reach 72 per cent by 2021. It is challenging because the population keeps growing,” Al Nuaimi said.

The top priority is to ensure people’s happiness. “When our citizens own their own houses, that contributes to their happiness. We want to provide them with houses in good areas, not in rural areas. Allocating these land plots and building the infrastructure requires a lot of work.”

Abeer Al Ahmadi, expert at the housing department of the ministry, said 44 per cent of homeowners are in Abu Dhabi, 17 per cent in Dubai, 16 per cent in Sharjah, 11 per cent in Ajman, six per cent in Fujairah, four per cent in Ajman and two per cent in Umm Al Quwain.

“These indexes might change as this is only the first phase of the data collection process,” she said.

Al Ahmadi said the department is working with all housing departments and Shaikh Zayed and Shaikh Mohammad housing programmes to collect data.

“We are also working on including those owners who have built their private houses, so that we get an accurate index,” she said.