Will Dubai’s affordable homes too start seeing price increases soon?

  • Date: 15-Jun-2021
  • Source: Gulf News
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:UAE
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Will Dubai’s affordable homes too start seeing price increases soon?

Dubai: Here's an alert for property buyers - prices of even the more affordable homes in Dubai could see a 10-12 per cent spike before year-end. Developers will have no option but raise their asking prices on ongoing projects if the cost of steel and other building materials continue to soar. New luxury villa prices have already seen fairly sharp rises since the beginning of this year, through a combination of higher demand and from the cost of construction. If more affordable homes also start turning costlier all of a sudden, it could dent demand at a time when the market is seeing a bounce back. "Prices of steel and cement have increased 35 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, in the last eight or 10 months,“ said Kalpesh Kinariwala, Chairman of Pantheon Development. "The rest of the building materials have more or less increased by the same levels. This resulted in a 6-8 per cent construction cost escalation.“ So far, offplan property buyers have not felt the increases as developers refrained from passing on the costs. But if the current rate of increase in building material prices continue, they may not have that option for long. So far,