25/09/08

Dubai’s property market is unlikely to crash but a maturing market will separate the winners from the losers, Nakheel’s chief executive said on Thursday.

“Dubai has certainly entered the next phase of property development whereby the consumers can intelligently and confidently shift through the myriad of property offering,” Chris O’Donnell said.

“The word ‘correction’ has been often misused in the property sector as a crash.”As the market matures, prices in projects that do not offer value for money will fall, but the value of quality developments in the right locations will continue to increase, as a result of more regulation, consumer protection and transparency.

“If one wants the best product in the best location by the most reputable developers, the project will attract the right type of buyers who are more than willing to make that investment,” he said.

With 70,000 units expected to come on stream in 2009, analysts have said prices are likely to soften in the second half of the year.

But the city’s property market has exogenous factors that will help to propel property growth organically, O’Donnell said.

“Recently the New York Times ran an article about the region's young people wishing to make Dubai their new home to be part of the growth and in the process to re-affirm their self identity.

“I believe his typifies what is happening, in a small yet tangible way, around us in Dubai,” he said.

“What is important is not the state of the overall market, rather, how one reacts to the changing conditions. I believe that this is the time to be strategic and remain cautiously optimistic,” he added.