By Soren Billing and Shahem Shareef www.arabianbusiness.com
There has been no substantive increase in sales prices or rents for residential property near Dubai’s metro stations, Landmark Advisory said on Wednesday.
“There have been a few cases where the sale prices have increased marginally, but this was largely due to speculative demand from investors,” said Jesse Downs, director of research and advisory.
The chief executive of the RTA’s Public Transport Agency, Essa Abdul Rahman Al Dossari, was quoted by UAE daily Emarat Alyoum on Wednesday as saying that land prices around the city’s metro stations had risen by three to five times their previous value.
“The Metro is not fully functioning yet as only a limited number of stations are open. Therefore, I do not anticipate that the Metro will impact sale prices or rents in the next 6 months to 1 year,” Downs said.
Landmark believes the metro will begin to impact Dubai real estate prices within the next one to two years, with buildings within 600 metres of a metro station commanding a five to ten percent premium.
“Currently residential sales are driven primarily by investors with little end-user demand, which is largely due to limited financing available.
End-user preferences will determine sustainable trends for Metro premiums,” Downs said.
