The average monthly salary for property professionals in the Middle East has risen by just Dh480 (US$130) over the past year to Dh38,440.
According to the recruitment specialist Macdonald & Company, average salaries for property professionals in the region have risen by just 1.3 per cent over the last twelve months - well below the rate of inflation in the region, which in Dubai is expected to be about 2 per cent for this year.
For those in the property industry, many of whom received very high pay packages during the boom years, the real-terms salary cut comes after a lean few years of earnings. After the global economic crisis, Macdonald & Co reported salaries dipped by between 30 and 40 per cent.
"Although we are seeing a recovery in the Dubai property market, the recruitment market for property professionals is showing no signs of returning to what it was during the boom," said Ben Waddilove, a Macdonald & Co director. "With the recruitment markets and the economies in the West still struggling, property companies in the Middle East do not need to pay huge salaries to attract staff. "A lot of companies were hit badly during the downturn and that was partly because they were overpaying their staff."
The figures, which are released today at the Cityscape exhibition in Dubai, also show average annual bonuses for senior property professionals in the Middle East remained at about Dh76,000.
However, Macdonald & Co said demand was returning to the market for top company executives receiving pay packets of between Dh120,000 and Dh150,000 a month.
"Developers in the region are once again willing to pay top-whack salaries of more than Dh100,000 for the right candidate," Mr Waddilove added.
"The situation is a lot better than that of two or three years ago when most companies would have agreed that there was no hope of seeing salaries that high again."
Macdonald & Co reported the average monthly salary for a chief executive for a property company now stood at Dh135,000.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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The National selections
5pm: RB Hot Spot
5.30pm: Dahess D’Arabie
6pm: Taamol
6.30pm: Rmmas
7pm: RB Seqondtonone
7.30pm: AF Mouthirah
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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More on Quran memorisation:
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
