Abu Dhabi - Mubasher: While the UAE’s economic growth shows promising levels in 2018, with the gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to exceed 2.6%, Abu Dhabi's real estate market is striving to keep pace with these positive domestic economic developments.
This bright picture of the GCC nation's economy is manifested in the stability in job creation rates and the increase seen in public spending, according to a report released by Cluttons.
“The very top of Abu Dhabi’s sales market has been relatively positive and is showing signs of stabilising,” the Cluttons Abu Dhabi Property Market Outlook report for Spring 2018 found.
Meanwhile, rents across the UAE’s capital and biggest sheikhdom declined 2.3% in the first quarter of 2018 as job losses and the rise in the cost of living – added to the introduction of the value-added tax (VAT) – have squeezed many households, the international real estate consultancy noted.
The aforementioned facts made landlords more flexible and open to negotiate and reduce rents upon renewals, Cluttons revealed.
What further complicates the situation is the increase in property supply, as deliveries soar in Yas Island and Al Raha Beach.
The residential market of the oil-rich emirate “has the potential to start stabilising by the end of 2018, but until then further softening is expected to persist,” the UK-based firm’s data showed.
