Dubai Real Estate Down 50% From Peak

Image via Wikipedia

The decline in Dubai property prices slowed in the second quarter and prices are nearing the bottom after falling almost 50% since their peak late last year, a widely-watched index of Dubai property prices showed Monday.

Prices fell 9% during the second quarter of the year from the previous quarter -- the slowest rate of decline since the property downturn started in the emirate during the third quarter of 2008, U.K.-based real-estate consultancy Colliers International said in its quarterly price index, which collates mortgage transactions on properties open to foreign ownership since the start of 2007.

Year-to-year prices have slumped 48% since the second quarter of 2008 and are down 50% from their peak in the third quarter of 2008 amid ongoing concerns over job security, financing, project delays and cancellations, according to the index which is compiled using mortgage transaction data from financial institutions accounting for 60% of the mortgage market in Dubai.