According to Dubai Municipality statistics, marking an all time quarterly high, the value of Dubai buildings that saw their construction conclude in the Q3 of 2011 surged by more than 220% to AED 14.07 billion compared with the previous quarter of the year when buildings worth AED 4.4 billion were completed.
This is more than double the value of buildings completed in the same quarter of 2010, when AED 6.7 billion worth of properties were completed, according to Dubai Municipality statistics. This marks an all time quarterly high for the value of completed buildings according to Dubai Municipality data which maintains public records dating back to 2005.
The jump in the value of the completed buildings is largely due to the more than ten times surge in the value of industrial buildings and an almost six times surge in the value of public facilities completed during the quarter.
Real estate specialists Cluttons said that the recent increase in activity gives the Dubai industrial property market a reason to celebrate. The Q3 of 2011 has seen a number of requirements from international light industrial and logistics occupiers entering the market seeking higher quality units.
The Cluttons said that market activity continues as international occupiers see Dubai as the ideal GCC location. It is the courier companies and the GCC petrochemical industry that drives this recent surge in activity with the requests being received from occupiers involved in the downstream oil and gas sectors.
Data showed that the number of completed buildings, meanwhile, jumped by more than 15% from 638 to 736 QoQ but was down almost 17% from 884 buildings completed during the corresponding quarter of last year.
Most other building types too saw a quarterly increase in value of completed units with the value of investment villas jumping 167% jump from AED 77 million in the Q2 to AED 206 million in the Q3 of the year value of completed multi storeyed buildings inching up by 14% from AED 2.43 billion to AED 2.76 billion in the same period; and value of private villas up 11% from AED 824 million in Q2 to AED 915 million in Q3.
According to the DM data, the value of completed buildings in Dubai hit a low in the Q4 of 2009 when 614 buildings worth AED 4.32 billion were completed. Since then however, the value of completed buildings has witnessed a marked improvement. While last year saw completion of buildings worth more than AED 30.8 billion the first Q3 of 2011 have witnessed completion of buildings worth more than AED 24 billion.
According to Cluttons, while demand is steadily picking up for high quality residential accommodation in the Marina, Emirates Living, Downtown, Arabian Ranches and Jumeirah demand for high quality office space in Dubai is also experiencing an increase in enquiry numbers from large space users looking to consolidate from old obsolete space spread around the city to more modern and efficient space and the property advisory company expects this trend to continue.
The development market is also showing signs of coming out of hibernation with a number of developers who are holding well located and structured land banks and developments are now considering their options to develop out and or extend existing developments.
Cluttons added that the investment market for industrial property in Dubai remains strong with a number of funds seeking well let modern buildings. Several institutions and investment banks have requirements for logistics buildings but the lack of investment grade stock means very few transactions have been completed and yields have hardened due to product not being available.
(Sourced from Emirates Business 24/7)
