A fundamental shift is taking place in the UAE property market in the wake of the industry’s historic roller-coaster ride. Property in the UAE has lost Dh734 billion (US$199.9bn) in value since the market peaked in 2008, Shuaa Capital estimates. Construction and transaction activity slowed to a crawl as the global economy tanked.

Over 2,000 registered property brokers in Dubai will no longer have to queue up at the Dubai Land Department (DLD) office for registering a property transfer.

Asteco says emirate will see 10,700 new apartments and 1,300 new villas in next six months Dubai will witness release of only 10,700 apartments and 1,300 villas during the first half of 2012, taking the total supply to 408,500 apartments and 59,000 villas, respectively, according to Asteco Property Management.

Dubai: Dubai Industrial City has completed the infrastructure of about 30 per cent of its area after investing Dh588 million in the projects over the past four years, it said in a statement to Gulf News. Power, water, sewage, irrigation and telecom systems are now up and running on 15 square kilometres out of the[…]

Some real estate agents in Dubai have resorted to charging commission fees to both buyers and sellers in a bid to bolster revenues that have fallen by nearly two-thirds, industry sources said. Agents who raked in profit at the peak of Dubai’s housing bubble are now doubling up on fees after monthly real estate transactions[…]

The chairman of Emaar Properties is claiming that property prices in Dubai have bottomed out, and are already starting to show signs of recovery due to investors looking for a safe haven.

Emaar Properties, developer of the world’s tallest building, is in talks with several UAE emirates to roll out affordable housing schemes and plans to concentrate on Dubai first, its chairman said. Despite a housing market that is widely seen as being oversupplied, Mohamed Alabbar said Dubai still has room for properties at a price point[…]

Dubai saw less than 1,700 real estate deals in the first ten months of the year, government data shows, a 70 percent decline on sales made at the housing market’s peak in mid-2008. Some 1,603 deals were signed off in the ten months to October, down from 5,363 during the same period in 2008, data[…]

There’s no denying the popularity of group buying sites in the Middle East. It’s a field with a couple of success stories to its name, including LivingSocial buying Dubai-based GoNabit and Cairo-based Offerna adding former BuyWithMe exec Sinan Khatib to its team. But the actual number of group buying sites that have launched in the[…]

A group buying website is linking up with a major Middle East developer to offer discounts on rental property in Dubai. Grosper, a new group buying website, launches later this month offering group discounts on property rentals and home related services.