Most property owners in Abu Dhabi will reinvest after selling current unit

Eighty-two per cent of Abu Dhabi homeowners would reinvest in the property market if they sold their current unit in return for a good premium, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by Metropolitan Capital Real Estate (MCRE).

The survey, which polled 300 UAE residents, also found 67% of the property owners surveyed said they would consider selling their units this year in return for a good premium. According to the respondents, the main reasons to reinvest property sale income back into the real estate market are a requirement to upgrade (61%), a need to relocate (31%) and a desire to retire in the UAE (8%).

Evgeny Ratskevich, chief executive of Metropolitan Capital Real Estate, said: “Over the next two years we will see a lot more interest in the Abu Dhabi secondary real estate market from international end users. More and more expats are viewing Abu Dhabi as a place to live, work and retire in due to the capital’s robust economy, safe and secure environment and thriving job market.

“We increasingly see interest from large businesses who are relocating their headquarters here and from end users who are planning to buy primary or secondary residences. Abu Dhabi’s new Midfield Terminal, expected to open in early December this year, will open new markets and accelerate interest in the city’s real estate sector from key markets such as India, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Western Europe and the United Kingdom,” he added.

“The data collected in our YouGov survey shows that Abu Dhabi homeowners are confident in the city’s property market indicating that the level of planned activity in the secondary market will continue to fuel transaction volumes," Ratskevich added.

"Buyers looking to invest in Abu Dhabi’s secondary property market this year will benefit from the projected increasing number of current owners who plan to liquidate their assets to reinvest it back in the same market. In addition, 69% of the property owners polled also said that they were planning to rent out their property in the next 12 months which means we should expect some additional stock to hit the market providing more options for tenants.”

The survey also found 60% of those polled currently live in the property they purchased while 73% own one or two properties and 65% own one or two-bedroom units in Abu Dhabi.

Owners are also making significant improvements to their properties with 82 per cent of respondents confirming they had made upgrades to their properties since purchase and over eight per cent spending more than Dh1 million to renovate their properties.

In addition to MCRE in Abu Dhabi, the Metropolitan Group also includes Metropolitan Premium Properties and Metropolitan Homes in Dubai, Luxury Immobilien GmbH, a real estate agency in Vienna and Metropolitan Consulting FZE, providing personal and business legal services in the UAE.