Home Sentiment Survey – Q3 2020

UAE homeowners see light at the end of the tunnel; while UAE renters look forward to lower rents in the next 12 months. Saudi Arabia and Egypt respondents are more bullish.

Peninsula Real Estate Releases Results of MENA Home Sentiment Survey – Q3 2020

In conjunction with our partners, CBRE, Cityscape, Eltizam and Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Peninsula are delighted to release today, both in short form (see report) and as a more detailed report (see report), the results of our third Middle East and North Africa Home Sentiment Survey.

The Survey was conducted in the first two weeks of October. The findings therefore provide an important snapshot of sentiment towards real estate in the first quarter subsequent to the relaxation of Covid-19 mitigation measures. The survey’s findings represent a compilation of around 2,500 data points from homeowners, renters and investors in the region.

As of the end of Q3 2020:

• In the UAE, homeowners have become more positive on the outlook for residential real estate in the coming 12 months. At the end of Q3 2020, 50% of homeowners responding to the survey reported that they expect home prices to be stable or increase in the next 12 months. This is up from 41% at the end of Q2 2020.
• 33% of UAE homeowners expressed their belief that home prices will increase in the next 12 months, up from only 11% of respondents in Q2.
• Renters in the UAE whose lease expired in Q3 2020 were, on average, able to negotiate a decrease in rent of between 5 to 10%. Similar declines are expected in the next 12 months when current leases expire.
• Sentiment in Saudi Arabia and Egypt continues to be more positive than in the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, 59% of respondents expect prices and rents to increase in the next 12 months. In Egypt, the bull market seems largely unaffected by Covid – with 72% of respondents expecting prices and rents to rise in the coming 12 months.