- Real estate Industry shrinks
- Property Consultants loose jobs
Property sales in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have come to a near standstill, according to real estate industry sources.
Resale prices are also said to have dropped as the global financial crisis is in full swing.
Off-plan sales have been hardest hit, according to a report in The National, due to buyers having difficulty securing finance, as major lenders tightened mortgages requirements.
Speculators are also experiencing problems trying to sell properties while others struggle to maintain mortgage repayments due to job cuts and stretched liquidity.
Prices are down by atleast 10% everywhere, even in prime locations as Business Bay and DIFC. Posh neighborhoods are witnessing up to 40% decrease.
Many property developers are revising their business strategies and reducing their operating costs by closing branches and cutting jobs.
Tameer is to lay off half of its workforce in the latest round of job cuts to hit the UAE’s battered real estate sector, a source close to the company told 7DAYS last night.
“[Last week] we received notice that our last day would be December 31,” ArabianBusiness.com quoted a Tameer employee as saying yesterday, reporting that a total of 180 staff would lose their jobs as a result of the action. The source close to Tameer, which the web site said had 350 employees, confirmed that the “termination is not immediate”.
Another real estate firm, Omniyat Properties, axed 69 jobs in light of the current market conditions, with some of the chief executive officers reportedly taking at least a 30 per cent pay cut this year.
Smaller real estate companies are more flexible, but they still need funds to support their day to day operations and in the current market environment cash is hard to find.
