Virus May Be a Welcome Reality Check for #Dubai’s Property Glut - Bloomberg

Virus May Be a Welcome Reality Check for Dubai’s Property Glut - Bloomberg:

Chairman of Damac Properties is adamant that his company will 

pull through.Hussain Sajwani spoke exclusively to Yousef Gamal el-Din.

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Source: Bloomberg)

While the coronavirus is wreaking havoc around the world, it could give Dubai’s long-slumping property market a much-needed break from new projects, a top developer said.

“If there is a silver lining to this crisis, it’s that now everybody is going to halt new projects at least for a while,” Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Damac Properties PJSC, said in an interview. “The reality on the ground is dictating the situation.”

Dubai’s developers have continued to build homes and start big new projects despite six years of falling prices and unmistakable signs of oversupply in the market. Now the double hit of the virus crisis and a partly related plunge in oil prices means buyers will have considerably less cash to pay for new homes. 


Developers have no choice but to halt projects “because their receivables are going to be huge” if they continue, Sajwani said.