Jones Lang Lasalle is the first out of the gate with its second quarter market overview and it has a few interesting discoveries.
For one, the office market has really begun to fragment into high-quality buildings in the Central Business District around DIFC and Burj Khalifa, and the run-of-the-mill towers around the rest of the city. Vacancies rose to about 38 per cent on average around Dubai, while there are shortages in the more sought-after areas. Meanwhile, the market is about to receive 20 million square feet of new office space in 2010 and another 11 million square feet over 2011 and 2012.
Other observations from JLL:
- Retail vacancies have increased to between 8 and 10 per cent, with more stores closing because of poor sales.
- The value of properties traded in Dubai increased by nearly 50 per cent from the previous quarter, although this is still a 7 per cent decrease from the same quarter in 2009. Prices have remained "relatively stable".
- And the hotel market is "the closest to the bottom of the cycle", with increased demand and occupancy but lower average room rates.
