Knight Frank are pleased to announce the release of its UAE Market Review and Forecast 2019 report. 

Headlines: 

Dubai, UAE, January 09, 2019:  The report is Knight Frank’s annual review and forecast of the UAE Real Estate Market in the year ahead. 

The UAE’s GDP is expected to grow by 2.8% in 2018, up from the 0.8% registered in 2017.

• Residential prices and rents are likely to continue to soften in 2019, however we may see additional demand which helps underpin the market as a result of the recent approval of a range of legislations to ease visa regulations, given that many of the changes are linked to property ownership.
• In the short to medium term we expect that market conditions in the UAE’s office sector will remain challenging with rental rates continuing to fall.
• As a result of the level of incoming retail supply in Abu Dhabi and more so in Dubai, it is likely to mean that operators and retailers are likely to face extreme pressure over the coming five years.
• In the UAE’s hospitality sector we anticipate that the changing nature of room night demand and sustained development pipeline will result in RevPAR levels weakening over 2019.

Taimur Khan, Research Manager, commented: “Whilst there are clear challenges facing the market, a trend we expect to continue in 2019, the recent approval of a range of legislations to ease visa and foreign business ownership by the UAE Cabinet are likely to drive addition demand in the UAE’s property market. Looking ahead we expect that the prime segments of the market are likely to continue to outperform the mainstream market overall.”