Dubai Land Department organises ‘Dubai Real Estate Sector Profile’ forum

Tuesday 18 December 2018
Dubai - MENA Herald:

Dubai Land Department (DLD) organised the ‘Dubai Real Estate Sector Profile’ forum to announce the results of real estate performance over the past years, and the role of data in enhancing the transparency of the real estate sector. The forum included the launch of the ‘Deraya’ report and the annual performance report of real estate sector 2018, in the presence of His Excellency Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD; Her Excellency Majida Ali Rashid, CEO of the Real Estate Promotion and Investment Management Sector at DLD; His Excellency Younis Al Nasser, Assistant Director-General at Dubai Smart Office and CEO of Dubai Data Establishment; in addition to CEOs and senior officials at DLD, a number of government agency representatives, real estate research companies, and experts as well as the most prominent real estate agents, brokers, and major developers including Emaar , Nakheel , Falconcity of Wonders, DAMAC Properties , Dubai Properties, and MAG Lifestyle Development .

Of the forum’s most important announcements were the ‘Deraya’ report — initiated by the Department of Real Estates Studies & Research of the Real Estate Promotion and Investment Management Sector at DLD, in collaboration with Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) and Cavendish Maxwell — and the annual report of the real estate sector performance 2018.

These reports contribute to enhancing Dubai's real estate market, positioning it as the world's leading real estate market. According to the JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2018, Dubai was among the top three global cities regarding real estate market transparency.

HE Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of Dubai Land Department, said: “These reports provide a key database for media, investors and international classification agencies to access insights on the performance of Dubai’s real estate market with complete transparency. We seek to achieve some key objectives through these reports and highlight the role of the real estate sector and its close ties with other economic sectors. The reports underline the importance of the real estate sector as a productive element that supports all other economic sectors, reflecting positively on the real estate sector’s growing contributions to Dubai’s GDP.

“The current real estate sector enjoys several positive indicators that predict growth across many of its segments, supported by the annual report of the real estate sector and the 2018 Deraya report, which represents integrated strategic cooperation between the public and private sectors. The reports are also a testament to Dubai’s status as one of the world’s top attractive investment destinations that ensures investors future high yields.”

Bin Mejren added: “The reports offer a deeper insight into the performance of Dubai’s real estate sector in 2017, furthering the transparency level across the sector. They are aimed at increasing professionalism across Dubai’s real estate environment, consolidating the real estate information sources, and elevating DLD to become the leading real estate reference. The reports also work towards bolstering the attractiveness of Dubai’s real estate market, identifying market trends and needs, and providing real estate studies companies and real estate experts access to relevant data.”

HE Majida Ali Rashid, CEO of the Real Estate Promotion and Investment Management Sector at DLD, said: “We are proud to have cooperated with two of the world's leading companies, in line with our commitment to engage our partners and customers. The launch of Deraya, our joint research initiative, is part of our collaborations with real estate consultancy companies and experts in the field of real estate studies.”

“The initiative encapsulates all relevant topics to promote DLD’s role in the sector, achieve best results, and create a loyal customer base built on trust and quality of service, thus accelerating the realisation of Dubai’s vision and objectives.”

Through this initiative, DLD bolsters professionalism across the real estate sector by reducing the manipulation of real estate reports and providing a wide range of information sources through a unified database.

Rashid added: “The launch of this report comes in conjunction with the launch of the 2018 Real Estate Performance Report to answer all questions about the performance of the Dubai real estate market and to project the upcoming years. Taking into account major future events, initiatives, and incentives launched by the government throughout the year, it is safe to say that Dubai’s real estate market will be witnessing a steady flurry of activity.”

The event featured a presentation by HE Younus Al Nasser, CEO of Dubai Data Establishment, on the experience of Dubai Data Establishment, the world's most comprehensive and ambitious data initiative. Al Nasser highlighted the importance of data availability to elevate the ranking of Dubai’s real estate sector on global transparency and competitiveness indexes. Al Nasser also explained that launching the reports represents a significant stride in offering further sustainability and transparency.

This step is in line with the ongoing efforts of the Smart Dubai Office that works towards facilitating Dubai’s citywide smart transformation, empowering strategic partnerships with the public and private sector and developing new innovative solutions to make Dubai the happiest and smartest city on earth.

Thierry Delvaux, CEO of JLL MENA, commented: “Our global research reveals a clear relationship between the openness and transparency of any real estate market and the level of investment attracted. Investors appreciate certainty and are therefore attracted to the most transparent markets, such as the UK, the USA, and Singapore, where they can more accurately assess the levels of risk and return from any potential investment. Dubai is the most transparent real estate market in the MENA region, and this helps explain the high level of investment attracted relative to other cities in the region.”

“Institutional investors made over 15,600 transactions in the Dubai market in 2017, with a combined value of just over AED 100 billion. This sector of the market has consistently grown in value each year since 2013 with transactions by institutional investors totalling around AED 85 billion. Most investments by institutional investors involved some form of debt financing, and the vast majority of transactions were completed rather than remain as off-plan projects. Additionally, unlike other global cities, most purchases were in residential areas rather than commercial ones.”

“Though Dubai’s market is still dominated by individuals and private companies with less institutional investment than in more mature markets overseas, as it develops and more investment-grade real estate becomes available at reasonable price levels, we believe the level of interest from institutional investors in the Dubai market will increase over the next five years.”

Jay Grant, Chairman and Cavendish Maxwell, said: “Having recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, Cavendish Maxwell has grown alongside the Dubai real estate sector. Trust, transparency and a commitment to quality is what defines our success as a business, values that are also key to the success of a real estate market.”

“A young city competing on a global field for investor recognition, the Dubai real estate market has faced challenges over the years as it developed its level of understanding, initiative, and maturity.”

“Cavendish Maxwell’s analysis and subsequent recommendations as part of Deraya highlight key learnings within Dubai’s evolving real estate landscape. Innovation, technology, and transparency are some of the core opportunities present, and we are pleased to be supporting these areas of growth with our unique attributes and experience.”

“Deraya is an important initiative that provides investors with valuable insight based on data that was not previously in the public domain. It is just one of many initiatives being undertaken by DLD within the open data policy adopted by the Dubai Government. These initiatives should attract further levels of investment from institutional investors and maintain Dubai’s position as the leading real estate market in the region.”

The Deraya Report comprises two main parts. The first offers analyses of institutional investments based on volume, procedure, type, trends, favoured locations, investment types, and state of a property. It also details investments by type of institution, revealing that banks and private companies are the top institutional purchasers of real estate in Dubai, while also reviewing mortgage financing for entities and individual investors.

The second part explores the types and sizes of investments made by individuals and classifies investments according to investor nationality and gender. It also provides an analysis of individual investments in off-plan and completed properties, and ranks them according to real estate mortgages and sales.

The report concluded with an in-depth comparison between the real estate sectors of Dubai and several developed countries, presenting a set of proposals to promote Dubai’s status as a global investment destination.

Meanwhile, the 2018 annual report performance of the real estate sector comprises four main chapters. The first chapter, entitled ‘The Real Estate Sector and its Role in Dubai’s Economic Growth,’ features an analysis of Dubai’s GDP in 2017 and its high growth rates compared to a number of developed countries like Singapore. This chapter revealed a steady growth in the contributions of the construction and real estate services sectors to the growth of Dubai’s GDP.

The report's second chapter focusses on the performance of the real estate sector regarding supply and demand, new and completed projects, and their classification as buildings, villas, or complexes. A part of this chapter also details the numbers and values of buildings completed in Dubai between 2011 and 2017 as well as projects under construction until 2017, while also exploring sales, leases, and real estate operations and transactions.

The chapter also sheds light on the wide variety of real estate investors in terms of nationality, gender, and age. The featured 2017 list of the top 10 nationalities in real estate investment ranked Emirati investors first in terms of the number and value of investments. The remaining ranks featured Indians, Pakistanis, Saudis, Britons, Chinese, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Canadians. The report also revealed a steady increase in the contribution of construction and real estate services to foreign direct investment, which reflected positively on the total value of real estate investments in 2017 that amounted to AED 107 billion.

In addition, the chapter delves into the performance of Dubai’s hotel sector from 2012 to 2017, offering comparisons across many factors. The performance analysis shows that the number of hotel rooms grew by 44% during that period, and highlights the number of new and renewed leased and sold offices, shops, retail stores, and residential units. It also details the number and areas of residential units under construction from 2014 to 2017. The report classifies investments by gender, age, and type of asset.

The third chapter reviews the regulations and initiatives in Dubai’s real estate sector. It underscores a number of applicable laws and legislation and DLD’s launch of the Blockchain Project, becoming the world’s first government entity to adopt this technology to revolutionise its services. In this chapter, the report also explores the initiatives and products that help regulate the real estate market, most notably the 'Low-Income Housing Initiative.’ It also analyses initiatives launched by DLD, such as the Ejari, eMart, Smart Investment Map, Smart Judge, Rental Dispute Center, Dubai Brokers, and Mashrooi smart applications.

Finally, the fourth chapter showcases the performance of Dubai’s real estate sector in 2018, while referencing international reports issued by the International Monetary Fund and other international institutions on the performance of economic growth expected in the UAE.

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