Better Homes News
Grab your copy of State of the Market 2009
On Wednesday, April 29th Better Homes launched its State of the Market 2009 report to the public. This report, weighing in at over 100 pages, analyses the fundamentals of the Dubai real estate market, recapping 2008 and projecting pricing trends over the coming few years. The report covers residential sales and leasing, commercial sales and leasing, hospitality, and retail along with some global and regional macro-economic issues.
To develop the report, Better Homes partnered with the research expertise of Investment Boutique, working for the past several months to develop a comprehensive examination and forecast of the Dubai real estate market.
“The report has been quite successful,” states Ryan Mahoney, Managing Director of Better Homes, “ we’ve had interest from a wide range of individuals and corporations including HSBC, BASF, EM Credit, Al Futtaim, and Boston Consulting Group to name a few. Partnering with Investment Boutique has provided some valuable insight into where the Dubai market is headed. We know many people were skeptical of a real estate agency releasing a market report, but having been in Dubai for over 20 years Better Homes benefits much more by bolstering its reputation as a source of trustworthy information. I think State of the Market is evidence of this and it would be hard to argue that the report paints an unrealistic picture.”
State of the Market 2009 is organized into four sections, which can be purchased individually or all together in the Full Report. Each section contains a brief review of the past year, an examination of relevant market variables (supply/demand, delays, demographic changes), and a forecast of 2009-2011.
Click here to purchase and download your copy of State of the Market 2009
The Short-term Alternative
Better Homes Short-term Rentals has always offered a unique service – attractive both to those landlords who want flexibility and to tenants visiting for business or holiday breaks who required a “home away from home” at a reasonable price. Now, however, a new type of tenant has arrived.
In certain locations, short-term furnished accommodation is now more cost effective to the tenant than a long-term lease – and provides not only the inclusion of utilities and weekly housekeeping, but also the flexibility of not committing to a location. In the past few months, this has been highly attractive to the many residents who are “waiting to see what happens” regarding employment.
“This short-term solution has been attractive for long-term residents who are either waiting for rents to drop or for their companies to finish restructuring,” says Janine Crisp, Head of Short-term Rentals within Better Homes, “With reduced numbers of business and holiday travelers, short-term rents were bound to drop. The result of this is that many residents are moving into short-term accommodation while they wait and see what happens in the market.” As evidence of this phenomenon, Better Homes experienced a 200% increase in short-term transactions in April.
As for the landlords, they have been generally satisfied with the situation. While their revenue per property is dropping, their rooms are staying full and this has prevented them from feeling the need to reorganize their property portfolio strategy (which can be a costly and time-consuming process). “The landlords have been great to work with,” says Janine, “they understand the need to reduce prices in order to maintain occupancy. This is all part of the market adjusting.”
Great short-term deals currently available:
Studio in Marina Diamond 3 – AED 7,000 per month
1 bedroom in The Greens – AED 9,000 per month
2 bedroom w/ study in JBR – AED 14,000 per month
Click here for more information about furnished short-term rental solutions.
Preferred Partner Directory
On May 1st Better Homes launched its Preferred Partner Directory, which provides BH customers with an evolving directory of high-quality service providers. Because the needs of Dubai’s residents don’t stop after they find their new home, the Preferred Partner Directory will give them access to reliable companies ranging from home products to medical care to entertainment.
“We launched this directory recently to start building a network of reliable partners,” states Emma Cullen, who has developed the program at Better Homes, “our Customer Care division gets a substantial number of calls from our property clients who, after moving into their home, suddenly realize they need to get furniture, appliances, carpet or curtains, or even set up a mechanism to cost-effectively send money to their home country. Our Directory will help them with all of this and will keep growing and evolving over time.”
From furnishings to banking to office fit-out and even water suppliers, the Preferred Partner Director is a great way to connect with reliable products and services in the UAE.
Check out bhomes.com/partners for more details.
The Phenomenon of Discovery Gardens
One of the largest single developments to come online in 2008 was Discovery Gardens, a collection of manicured residential clusters located near Ibn Battuta Mall. Because of the large supply of these units, some of the owners have made substantial price discounts. Better Homes, with its exclusive partners in this community, is now offering excellent leasing deals.
Discovery Gardens has been praised for its community feel and beautiful landscaping, secluded from much of the loud construction areas in Dubai. Being only a couple minutes from Sheikh Zayed Road, it has become quite popular amongst its residents. Now, with the latest price reductions from some of the larger-scale landlords, interest is soaring for the development. Here is a breakdown of current Discovery Gardens prices through Better Homes:
Studio – AED 40,000
1 Bed – AED 60,000
2 Bed – AED 90,000
Perhaps the most attractive feature right now is that leases are payable in 6 cheques, something unheard of just one year ago.
“Recently on our May 2nd Open House event in Discovery Gardens, there were over 220 interested tenants who came to the event and over 40 leases were signed that day,” explains Liz O’Connor, Head of Residential Sales and Leasing, “we were surprised by the huge turnout and upon asking the visitors why they came down the near-unanimous answer was that the combination of location and price was unmatched anywhere else in Dubai.”
Click here for more details on leasing in Discovery Gardens
State of the Market 2009
Better Homes has partnered with the research expertise of Investment Boutique, working for several months to develop a comprehensive examination and forecast of the Dubai real estate market. This report – State of the Market 2009 – will be released on April 29th.
This is the first time Better Homes has engaged this sort of exhaustive market study and with it aims to provide valuable clarity to market observers during these turbulent times. Expect to see some good news, expect to see some bad news, but most importantly expect to see some prudent guidance for the coming quarters. The 40+ page State of the Market 2009 will be available as a whole or in four individual sections:
- Residential
- Commercial
- Hospitality
- Retail
Stay tuned to bhomes.com for more information and be sure to mark down April 29th for the release. The report will be available for download from the website on the release date. Better Homes is offering this research at a low price in order to make it affordable for a wide audience. Each section of State of the Market 2009 will be offered at AED 275/- and the full report at AED 950/- (over a 30% discount). The full report will include an extra section analyzing the macro-economic environment in more detail.
For more information, please click here.
Legal Update: Property court issues first ruling
After years of anticipation and speculation, the Dubai Real Estate Court has officially issued its first ruling. This helps bring needed accountability and security to the real estate market, and the initial precedents will be important to follow.
As its first ruling, a property developer has been ordered by the Dubai Real Estate Court to return Dh7.4 million (US$1.38m) on the sale of several apartments to a buyer after failing to register the sale with the Dubai Land Department’s property register.
The court ruled the sale null and void yesterday and ordered the developer to pay nine per cent interest to the buyer on the money from the date of the sale last April. The developer must also pay the full court costs. According to a statement issued by the Dubai Courts Department, the ruling is the first of its kind to cancel a property sale since the court was established last August.
In his summary, the presiding judge, Omar Miran, said the law stipulates that any transfer of ownership or other property transaction not registered in either the land department’s property register or its preliminary property register is null and void. The law gives developers a 60-day grace period to register all property sales concluded before that date. Failure to do so also renders the sale null and void.
The sale in this case was concluded on April 8. The buyer filed his case on Jan 21 this year, asking the court to order the developer to refund the money he had paid for the apartments plus 12 per cent interest.
