Short-term Brexit effect felt in Dubai property sector

A straw poll by Dubai real estate portal Propertyfinder.ae of several of the emirate’s top real estate agencies has indicated that Brexit has begun to impact the local market.

 

Although still early days after the controversial referendum in June that saw the UK vote to withdraw from the European Union, international markets have been waiting anxiously to see what the larger implications will be.

 

And according to an early gathering of feedback from Propertyfinder.ae’s closest partners, there are already two distinct short-term effects being felt in Dubai. 

 

On the one hand, a small but noticeable number of UK owners with property for sale in the emirate have reduced their asking prices – taking advantage of the weak pound against the dollar/dirham.

 

However, a number of UK investors that had previously expressed interest in buying here are now apparently holding back.

 

“We always keep close tabs on the performance of the local market, so post-Brexit we have been putting out feelers with the leading agencies to see what the mood is – and they have reported these parallel trends, which were to be expected,” says Lukman Hajje, Chief Commercial Officer at Propertyfinder.ae. 

 

“But we would predict that this UK seller/buyer shift is temporary – it is yet to be seen what the true effect of Brexit will be on the Dubai real estate market, indeed we could be in for a few surprises.”

 

Hajje revealed that Propertyfinder.ae had seen an 8 per cent drop in traffic from the UK immediately after the announcement – a “significant figure” – although this has begun picking up again over the past couple of weeks.

 

Dubai has long been popular among British property buyers with UK citizens emerging as the second largest investors in the emirate’s real estate last year. According to the Dubai Land Department, Brits invested a whopping £1.9 billion (about Dh9.1 billion) last year.