Property developers in the UAE are being urged to take advantage of a window of opportunity in the cost of building materials as recession-hit contractors prepare to increase prices.
According to the cost consultant EC Harris, building contractors are set to increase prices after two years to take advantage of competition from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In a report yesterday the firm predicted that tender prices for new building work in the UAE would rise by 4 per cent this year.
The company predicted that labour rates and the cost of materials would both increase 4 per cent after remaining static for the past two years. It forecast tender prices would increase more steeply next year and in 2015 to about 5 per cent a year as neighbouring Qatar and Saudi Arabia progress with their own major infrastructure projects.
EC Harris said that cement consumption in the UAE increased by 7 per cent last year compared with the previous year. But house building fell 17.4 per cent compared with the previous year.
"After the highs and lows of recent years the UAE construction market is now more stable, although the key construction markets of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are at differing stages of the cycle," said Chris Seymour, the company's head of property for the UAE.
