Dubai's property market is “bottoming out” as prices fell only 4 percent in the past six months while transactions jumped by as much as 60 percent from lows in the first half of the year reported Bloomber, citing a Deutsche Bank AG report. Average house prices declined 0.9 percent in October from a month earlier to AED1,156 ($315) per square foot and are 52 percent below their peak. Apartment and villa rents rose 1.8 percent and 5.5 percent respectively from the previous month, according to the report dated Nov. 4. “While signs of life are multiplying in the real-estate market, we believe the main risk remains new supply, which could prevent any meaningful recovery in the near term,” Dubai-based analysts Nabil Ahmed and Athmane Benzerroug wrote. An estimated 30,000 units may be delivered by the end of 2010, they said. Still, “the narrowing of the bid-ask spread continues, with less distress sales, and a renewed buyers' interest as financing becomes progressively more available,” analysts said. Deutsche Bank maintained its “buy” recommendation on Emaar Properties PJSC and Aldar Properties PJSC, the UAE's biggest developers, saying they remain “attractive relative to global peers.” UAE developers trade at an average of 0.8 times estimated price-to-book value on 2009 earnings, compared with a global average of 1.3 times and emerging market average of 1.4 times, according to the report. Earlier this week, Colliers International, the global real estate consultancy, released its Dubai House Price Index for third quarter 2009, which indicated a 7 percent increase in the overall value of residential properties between July and September 2009.
