Dubai realty in recovery mode with sales rising 20% in 2011

ubai: The Dubai Land Department has revealed that sales of land and property rose 20 per cent in 2011.

The department recorded 35,297 transactions worth Dh143 billion last year, a 20 per cent increase over 2010, and government officials predicted that the market was set to bring in more foreign investment in 2012.

“The 2011 results demonstrate Dubai’s ability to fully recover from the challenges of the international crisis and prove once again the strength of its economy,” the department said in a statement yesterday.

Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, Director General of the Dubai Land and Properties Department, told Gulf News that the department was upbeat about 2012.

“We can’t say that the real estate sector has completely recovered, but the worst of the crisis is behind us and the market still needs a few more years to regain the solidity it used to have a few years ago,” he said.

Bin Mejren also criticised recent reports by real estate consultancies and analysts for presenting a negative image of Dubai’s property market.

He said that “unofficial” overviews sold the emirate’s real estate market short, and pointed to the recent figures as evidence that sales of property are increasing across the board.

“What has been said and reported about the real estate sector in Dubai from various field companies is baseless to facts and figures (and) have portrayed a bad image about this sector’s future,” he said.

A number of negative reports were released in 2011 which claimed that Dubai’s property market was oversupplied and rents and prices would continue to plummet as projects came online.