Hydra suffers 20% property investor default

About one in five investors in Hydra Properties, an Abu Dhabi-based developer, is behind with their payments, the company said on Sunday.

Developers across the country have been reporting higher default rates in the wake of the property downturn. Some buyers are having trouble affording their purchases, while others simply want out of their obligations because prices have dropped precipitously and sales are slow.

“It looks like they are having problems with financing,” Matar al Shamisi, the deputy commercial director of the company, said of the buyers in default.