ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION NEWS BRIEF 14 SUNDAY, 2 APRIL 2017 RESEARCH DEPARTMENT DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR OVER 30 YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | asteco.com/report_library ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION REAL ESTATE NEWS UAE/ GCC AUDITOR WARNS ON DRAKE & SCULL’S FUTURE AS CONTRACTOR BREACHES TERMS OF BANK LOANS COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SALES SUBJECT TO VAT FROM NEXT YEAR – BUT RESIDENTIAL IS EXEMPT MORE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS EXPECTED IN UAE ARABTEC CHIEF SAYS A SHAKE-UP IS ON THE WAY DUBAI DEVELOPERS DOWN WITH NEW LAUNCHES THE INAUGURAL EDITION OF ‘FUTURE CITIES SHOW’ 2017 TO KICK OFF ON SUNDAY THE MODERN WORKSPACE WHAT’S YOUR PREFERRED INVESTMENT ASSET? SMES AT ANNUAL INVESTMENT MEETING IN DUBAI PITCH FOR ACCESS TO CAPITAL DUBAI MOTORCITY DEVELOPMENT TO CREATE NEW MOTORSPORT BUSINESS PARK AT DUBAI AUTODROME JAFZA RENTS FALL AS DEMAND FOR WORK SPACES DROPS OFF MARINA GATE APARTMENTS IN DUBAI DAZZLE ONCE THE DUST CLEARS EMIRATES REIT PROPERTY PORTFOLIO HOLDS STEADY EVEN AS DUBAI VALUES FALL RENT DECLINES 'NOT ENOUGH' TO MAKE DUBAI HOUSING AFFORDABLE TO EVERYONE NEW FIVE-STAR HOTEL TO OPEN IN BUR DUBAI DUBAI’S GO FOR SIZE APPROACH PAYS IN INDUSTRIAL REALTY MUTED DEMAND IN DUBAI’S OFFICE SECTOR ASK PW: TAKING THE DISPUTE OUT OF RENT DISPUTES DUBAI PROPERTY LAUNCHES NEW APARTMENT PROJECT, MUDON VIEWS, IN DUBAILAND DUBAI NON-OIL TRADE VOLUMES FIRM RTA SAYS NEW DH1.2BN DUBAI ROAD CONTRACTS WILL IMPROVE LINKS TO JEBEL ALI PORT DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR 30 YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | asteco.com/report_library Page 2 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION REAL ESTATE NEWS ABU DHABI ALDAR AWARDS DH500 MILLION DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT FOR MAYAN ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WELCOMES OVER 1.9M PASSENGERS IN FEBRUARY FUTURE OF INDUSTRY: ZONESCORP TO OFFER SMES WAREHOUSE LEASES IN ABU DHABI NEW AUTOMOTIVE CITY PLANNED FOR SITE WEST OF ABU DHABI NORTHERN EMIRATES SHARJAH’S NEW INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER GETS INTO SHAPE INTERNATIONAL QATAR’S UK INVESTMENT TO SURGE DESPITE BREXIT LONDON LUXURY HOMEOWNERS TURN TO AIRBNB AS SALES SLOW AYIA NAPA MARINA: LUXE HOMES AND EU CITIZENSHIP 'LONGER' THAN BURJ KHALIFA?: NEW TOWER AIMS TO BREAK RECORD GCC REALTY INVESTORS’ GLOBAL HUNTING GROUND NEW FINANCE HUB A GIFT FOR GUJARAT IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR OVER 30 DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | asteco.com/report_library Page 3 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION MOTORCITY DEVELOPMENT TO CREATE NEW MOTORSPORT BUSINESS PARK AT DUBAI AUTODROME Tuesday, March 28, 2017 Work is under way on a new hub for the UAE motorsport industry as part of the commercial transformation of MotorCity and its showcase venue, Dubai Autodrome. Developed by Union Properties and Multilink Contracting, the 6,000 square metre Motorsport Business Park, located in the centre of the 5.39 kilometre race circuit, will bring together all of the major UAE motorsport businesses and racing teams. Due for completion in December 2017, the project will complement the recently established Grandstand Retail Plaza, which accommodates an array of shops overlooking the main straight at Dubai Autodrome, and The Ribbon Mall. The new Motorsport Business Park will house multiple companies and teams in units of 200 and 420 square metres, and even before ground was broken on site recently the level of demand for space has made an extension likely. Ryan Trutch, Dubai Autodrome Special Projects Manager, said: "This bespoke facility will be a game changer for the motorsports industry in Dubai as it brings the major stakeholders involved in UAE motorsports together under one big roof. It will give these businesses easy access to our circuit, whether for testing or customer experiences." Richard Birch, Dubai Autodrome General Manager, added: "We have been overwhelmed by interest in the new project and have even contemplated a phase two for 2018. "But first we want to concentrate on getting phase one built. We had to overcome some frustrating delays in the past eight months, but I’m very pleased to say we have finally broken ground on the project and moving forward quickly." Source: Emirates Business 24/7 Back to Index IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR OVER 30 DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | asteco.com/report_library Page 4 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION JAFZA RENTS FALL AS DEMAND FOR WORK SPACES DROPS OFF Thursday, March 30, 2017 Rents in Jebel Ali Free Zone district have fallen by a fifth over the past two years as Dubai’s slowing economy is prompting mid-size firms to shelve requirements for warehouses and logistics space. According to the property broker Knight Frank, rents for the best warehouses in Jafza have fallen from Dh44 per square foot at the peak of the market in 2014 to Dh35 per sq ft at the end of 2016 as demand for Dubai’s most sought-after industrial and logistics space has fallen. In its latest industrial market report, the broker blames "economic headwinds such as a low oil price, a strong US dollar and global instability" for a dip in industrial rents, which are often viewed as an indicator of a city’s economic health. "What we have seen is a falling off in demand from the sort of middle-sized general traders which used to be taking warehouses of around 70,000 sq ft," said Charles Swanson, a surveyor covering UAE industrial leasing at Knight Frank. "The big international players are still taking space and demand from small businesses is holding up but it’s the middle ground that has been hit." Knight Frank estimates values for these medium-sized warehouses have fallen by about 20 per cent from around Dh250 per sq ft two years ago to around Dh200 per sq ft today. The broker says that Jafza has become a victim of its own popularity. The Jebel Ali Free Zone became a major part of the emirate’s economic recovery since the end of the global financial crisis 2009. Soaring demand pushed Jebel Ali warehouse rents up by as much as 30 per cent in 2014, beating residential and retail property asset classes and prompting a surge of development activity with thousands of square feet of new warehouses and logistics facilities mushrooming up in the southern part of the world’s largest free zone. In 2015 Ibrahim Al Janahi, the Jafza deputy chief executive, told The National that the free-zone authority was running out of space and looking at ways to extend outwards or build upwards to pack in more tenants. Mr Swanson said: "For the free-zone authority it’s not a big problem because they tend to lease large land plots on long leases. The problem is really being faced by the people who have bought those warehouses and we are certainly seeing a big availability of warehouses on the secondary market. Last year you might have had two pages of listings for these things but now it’s more like five." He said the free-zone authority had also increased the charges it levies on tenants, pushing up costs for companies locating there. And as one of Dubai’s oldest free zones, many of the older warehouses in Jafza are starting to become obsolete as tough new laws place ever more stringent requirements on the sort of facilities needed to store different types of goods. Overall, Knight Frank said, rents for class A warehouses in Dubai remained flat during 2016, while rents for poorer quality warehouses continued to fall. IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR OVER 30 DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | asteco.com/report_library Page 5 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION In Dubai Investments Park industrial rents have fallen 7 per cent since the peak, dipping from Dh43 per sq ft at the end of 2014 to Dh40 per sq ft at the end of 2016. However, Knight Frank said rents for warehouses in Dubai South had remained flat for the past two years at Dh50 per sq ft. And in Al Quoz rents for warehouses increased by 2 per cent over the same period, rising from Dh49 per sq ft at the end of 2014 to Dh50 per sq ft in 2016. In January Cluttons reported that although class A rents for the higher quality stock were generally holding up, Class B rents had dropped by 24 per cent in Al Quoz to Dh38 per sq ft, and by 14.3 per cent in Jafza to Dh24 per sq ft. "Aside from a natural cyclical correction that was inevitable in the industrial market, a surge in newly completed warehouse space over the last year or two has prompted a flight to quality among existing occupiers, creating a growing pool of more secondary space, which is slow to let," said Faisal Durrani, the head of research at Cluttons. "This is driving a growing gulf in rents between older stock and state-of-the-art, modern warehouse facilities." Source: The National Back to Index IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR OVER 30 DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | asteco.com/report_library Page 6 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION MARINA GATE APARTMENTS IN DUBAI DAZZLE ONCE THE DUST CLEARS Thursday, March 30, 2017 Stepping out of the noise and dust of the massive construction site forming Marina Gate in Dubai Marina and into a completed and furnished one-bedroom apartment is a disconcerting experience.