Private financiers could lift property prices

Now might be an opportune time for the Dubai Land Department to consider offering options that encourage alternative financiers to enter the market, a new report states.   Stuttering price growth in Dubai’s property market could be reignited if the emirate’s authority would allow private parties to finance assets, according to a study released yesterday.
“Now might be an opportune time for the Dubai Land Department to consider offering options that encourage alternative financiers to enter the market,” Hadef & Partners said in its report, The Legal State of the Dubai Property Market.
Banks have a 25% cap on their overall loan portfolio on how much they can lend towards property, according to regulations by the UAE Central Bank. Only local entities and institutions can register the title of the land, which constrains the ability of private financiers to to enter the market, the law firm said.
“The local banks are flush with liquidity but they are constrained by the regulations, whereas these entities won’t be,” Mohammed Ali Yasin, the managing director at NBAD Securities in Abu Dhabi told The National. “On the upside, they could re-energise the market.”