UAE developer halts new builds

One of the UAE's major property developers has had to delay construction on a number of new projects due to the economic downturn.

Sorouh, Abu Dhabi's second-largest real estate firm, has been forced to complete existing builds before undertaking any new work as a result of the credit crunch, explaining that it would not make financial sense to begin construction when the market conditions are so unfavourable.

"Why would we want to launch something when the market is stressed out? It is prudent for developers to exhaust current stock before launching new ones," chief property development officer Gurjit Singh said, speaking at the Abu Dhabi Real Estate and Investment Show.

And while he refused to give details of the firm's upcoming plans, he noted that the projects will "have a sharper focus on cost management".

Emaar Properties recently stated that prices of property in Dubai are likely to fall, with chairman of the company Mohamad Alabbar predicting that values will drop by an average of 20 per cent.

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