Dubai property prices may have hit bottom – Damac chairman

Damac Properties saw annual profit fall in 2018 and earnings will be similar for the next two years, although Dubai property prices may have hit the bottom, its chairman said.

Dubai property prices have steadily fallen since a mid-2014 peak, hurting earnings of developers and forcing construction and engineering firms to cut jobs and halt expansion plans.

Chairman Hussein Sajwani told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Damac’s profit fell last year and would “continue to be (at) similar levels, this year and next year.”

He did not give figures.

Sajwani said 2018 had been difficult for Damac, which has yet to report 2018 results, with both prices and sales declining. The firm reported a 68 per cent plunge in third quarter profit.

“I think we are at the bottom, from a price point of view, but it will take at least two years to absorb the supply,” Sajwani said, according to a transcript of the CNBC interview.

Savills has said Dubai’s residential real estate prices could fall by 5 to 10 per cent this year due to new supply, a strong dollar and lower oil prices.

Read: Dubai residential prices could fall by up to 10% in 2019 – report