A Cityscape In Flux

As the region’s biggest real estate conference opened its doors, market conditions, new launches and government reforms were top of the agenda.

- Robert Anderson

As usual, the market was watching as this year’s Cityscape Global trade show approached in early October.

But with price declines noted across the UAE in the build-up it was more a case of seeing if the show floor would match current market conditions or indicate a more prosperous year to come for the industry.

One observer taking the pulse of Cityscape on day one was Asteco managing director John Stevens, who said it was the first time since 2010 that the property management firm had opted not to have a stand.

“We’ve been telling our clients it’s not necessarily the right time to launch because it’s going to be hard to get your message out there and to be picked up amongst all of the other noise,” he explained.

“The days of holding your project to launch at Cityscape for a big feeding frenzy of sales I think have passed.”

Asteco released a UAE-wide report a week before the show indicating that sales prices and rents had declined in every emirate during the third quarter.

Dubai villa and apartment rents were down 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively in the three months from the end of June, while sales prices were down 5 per cent, according to the firm.

In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, villa rents were down 1 per cent and apartment rents 3 per cent since Q2, linked to new supply and reduced demand “largely attributed to a bearish business outlook”. Apartment sales prices were down 1 per cent.

However, despite the damp conditions, there was plenty of optimism about the prospects of the event.

“The Cityscape response should not be viewed from the perspective of sales alone,” said Sun and Sand Developers managing director Sailesh Israni, whose company launched the third phase of its SunCity homes project in Dubai International City at the show.