Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Gross domestic product (GDP) of the UAE’s real estate and construction sector rose 6%, or AED 24.1 billion, to AED 346 billion by the end of 2017, compared to AED 326.8 billion a year earlier, a new report released by Truth Economic Consultancy showed.
The sector made up about 31% of the total of the GCC nation’s non-oil GDP in 2017, the report found.
Overall investment
Total capital invested in the real estate and construction firms listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) amounted to AED 268 billion by the end of 2017, up from AED 244 billion in 2016, Truth’s chairman Reda Muslim stated.
These companies represented 77% of the total GDP of the Arab country's real estate and construction sector, Muslim added.
The chairman further noted that the firms' traded assets jumped 12% to AED 164.2 billion by the end of 2017, from AED 147.1 billion in the prior year. Meanwhile, their fixed assets increased by AED 7.3 billion to AED 103.9 billion by the end of the previous year, compared to AED 96.6 billion in 2016.
Liabilities
The real estate and construction firms’ liabilities levelled up 14%, or AED 14.1 billion, to AED 112.6 billion by the end of 2017, from AED 98.5 billion in the year before, Muslim noted.
Total revenues of the construction and real estate companies listed on the UAE stock markets from current operations grew AED 6.4 billion to AED 58 billion last year, compared to AED 51.7 billion in 2016.
The companies’ direct costs increased by AED 12.3 billion to AED 45.8 billion in 2017, from AED 33.6 billion in the prior year. Net profits of the UAE bourses’ real estate and construction firms stood at around AED 15.5 billion last year, according to the report.
