Dubai property market to remain lackluster: EFG

The property market in Dubai will remain weak to stable, at best, over the next 12 months, and markets in Abu Dhabi could also face some pressure from downward pricing and rental trends in Dubai, said EFG-Hermes.

"We do not anticipate any strong recovery in Dubai selling prices before the second half of 2010 at the earliest," analysts Sana Kapadia and Jad Abbas, said and revised their ratings and fair values on the UAE construction sector.

The analysts said balance sheet constraints of property companies in the UAE may put an effective cap on short-term performance until liquidity conditions improved.