So many properties have been listed on a recently launched internet auction site that the Dubai government has been forced to schedule two more virtual sales.
The country’s eMart was unveiled last November and held its first sale of commercial and residential properties a month later. More than 1,100 people visited the site during the sale, which eventually sold all 11 properties for a total of $20m [£12.1m].
Day-to-day viewing figures for the online real estate portal are equally impressive. By the end of December it had attracted 29,000 visitors. More than 150 real estate firms and 230 international investors had examined details of the1,300 properties already listed.
“This shows the portal’s popularity as an all-in-one hub for lucrative property investments,” said Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director-general of Dubai Land Department. “So far visitor figures include over 20,000 Emiratis, more than 2,500 Americans, 700 Britons and 500 Saudis. And there is also growing interest from Indian, Pakistani, Kuwaiti, Qatari, French, German, Russian, Canadian and Japanese buyers and sellers, among many others.”
The portal also gives an indication of popular investment areas, with Dubai Marina topping the list of the country’s most searched locations.
Now a new rush to register properties has forced the land department to schedule a further two sales.
.“This only shows the degree of trust and increased demand for the services of the portal,” said Sultan Al Akraf, director of First Registration at Dubai Land Department.
Unlike December’s sale, his department has been forced dedicate a space in one of its buildings for auctioneers and interested parties. Equipped with screens and tablet devices the facility will be staffed by professionals ready to assist bidders and train them in the use of the online auctioning system.
The site provides a complete and comprehensive description of all the listed properties, including photographs, maps and other details.
“This gives participants great flexibility and more trust in the auctions through the transparent nature of operations and the protection of stakeholder rights, the key tenets and primary advantages of eMart,” the department said in a statement.
The eMart’s success coincided with a claim from Sultan Bin Mejren that commercial property prices in Dubai could increase by as much as 40 per cent by the end of 2014.
To head-off a second year of rising prices — property values rose by 30 per cent in 2013 — Bin Mejren said his department intended to introduce new rules to control speculation on properties sold before they were started or completed.
“Transactions on off-plan properties are a little dangerous. “We are now studying them and looking at ways to ensure that they don’t hurt the market,” he said.
Bin Mejren also confirmed the Land Department was planning regulations to limit rent increases when tenants change.
