Dubai suffers 6.1% decline year on year

Dubai: Where house prices are falling fastest in the Middle East

Between March 2014 and March 2015, prices in Dubai registered a 6.1 decline, higher than the price falls recorded in other major property markets like France, Singapore, Italy or Spain, according to the Knight Frank Global House Price Index, which tracks the performance of major residential markets across the world. Out of the 56 markets monitored by Knight Frank, only 14 locations registered price declines. The worst performing is Ukraine, showing a 15.5 percent drop in rates, followed by Cyprus, where values fell by 8.2 percent and China, falling by 6.4 percent.

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Some residential property has bounced by about 20 percent, said Alan Robertson, chief executive officer for the Middle East-North Africa region at Jones Lang LaSalle property consultancy.

"We think prices will continue to grow quite quickly over the next 12 months, but over the next 24 months we will see the rate of growth slow down," he told AFP, adding that prices were still 20 to 30 percent below their 2008 peak.

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The bubble attracted many smaller than usual investors, resulting in patchwork ownership of commercial real estate. And despite the equivalent of nine empire state buildings (and rising) in empty office space, larger companies BUILD if they want to expand in Dubai.

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Negotiations with multiple landlords tend to be long and frustrating, said Ian Albert, regional director at property broker Colliers International. Even when a majority of a building’s owners agree on rents and terms, one will often hold out for a better deal, knowing that the tenant is eager to complete an agreement, he said.