Building Surveying
Showing posts for building surveying
2 April 2026
2 April 2026
Saudi Arabia's three major residential markets delivered divergent performances in 2025. Riyadh recorded approximately 56,600 transactions, down 31.4% year-on-year, as affordability constraints and elevated financing costs dampened buyer activity. Despite the decline in transaction volumes, average transaction prices reached SAR 1.7 million, the highest level in recent years, with apartment and villa prices appreciating 6.6% and 9.7%, respectively. The rental market remained strong throughout the year, ultimately prompting the Government to introduce a five-year rental freeze in late September 2025.
30 March 2026
30 March 2026
The paradox of geopolitical shock in the Gulf It is a well-established fact that geopolitical crises affect real estate markets differently[1]. Short-lived crises, in particular, may have fleeting effects on equity markets,[2] and even subside before real estate markets, which operate on longer adjustment cycles and are measured in months rather than minutes, have time to respond. This was certainly […]
24 March 2026
24 March 2026
What has driven Gulf sustainability reporting? There is no doubt that both the quantity and quality of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting in the Gulf has risen dramatically over the past decade. What has driven this change? The first and arguably the most important factor has been the explicit inclusion of ESG in national Government plans such as Saudi […]
17 March 2026
17 March 2026
Dubai's tourism sector has grown steadily over the past few years, benefiting from world-class infrastructure, a safe and diversified environment, and a strong calendar of events and cultural festivals. The market continued to perform strongly in 2025, supported by strong air connectivity, rising international visitation, and resilient hotel performance. Passenger traffic at Dubai's airports reached 95.2 million up by 3.1% compared to 2024, with international visitors climbing to 19.6 million, reinforcing the city's position as a leading hub for both leisure and business travel. Demand growth remains broad-based, supported by a diversified mix of source markets and an expanding ecosystem of events and experiences, while premium hotel openings have further enhanced Dubai's appeal to high-value international travellers.
6 March 2026
6 March 2026
When carefully designed, real estate taxation can be more than a tool for Governments to raise revenue; taxes can be used to influence real estate development and to achieve wider economic and social goals. At the same time, the owners of real estate work with tax lawyers, accountants and advisers to reduce their exposure to such taxes. What is […]
20 February 2026
20 February 2026
Everyone knows that housing and commercial property prices move in cycles. The pattern of a long-sustained build-up in asset prices followed by a sudden decline has been observed in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for decades. It is also known that real estate returns are generally more stable in the years between peaks and troughs. Not all cycles, however, are equally severe, nor are markets equally volatile. For example, comparing what has happened in Dubai since 2021 with UK average prices clearly indicates how much more volatile this Gulf market has been. And, of course, Dubai has seen much more impressive house price growth in recent years: when both markets are indexed to January 2008 = 100, UK prices stand at 158.3 while Dubai reaches 233.7.
12 January 2026
12 January 2026
Dubai’s retail and warehouse markets delivered a strong performance in Q3 2025, supported by resilient demand, constrained supply, and improving investor confidence. Retail sales activity accelerated sharply during the quarter, with transaction volumes rising quarter on quarter and total deal value surpassing the AED 1 billion mark for the first time in a single quarter, driven primarily by robust off-plan activity.
23 December 2025
23 December 2025
Saudi Arabia's economy continued to deliver robust performance in 2025, with real GDP expanding by 4.3% in the first nine months of the year, driven primarily by the non-oil sector, which grew by 5.1% year on year. Reflecting this strong momentum, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its 2025 growth forecast for the Kingdom upward to 4%, with a similar expansion projected for 2026.
16 December 2025
16 December 2025
Evidence for a hypothesis The idea that creativity flourishes in a crisis has some solid empirical support. The steam turbine, transformer, radio, and helicopters were all patented during Depressions and were turned into successful products during subsequent recovery periods. Various explanations of this phenomenon have been advanced, the most well-known of which has been Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of ‘creative destruction’, […]
3 December 2025
3 December 2025
Real estate cycles matter The story of Atlantic Yards in New York is both instructive and sobering. Billed as the largest real estate project ever for the city, its launch timing was excruciatingly poor. Announced in December 2003, the planning delays and the design phase dragged out over more than four years. By the time construction began in earnest, the […]
13 November 2025
13 November 2025
Dubai's residential market continued to grow in Q3 2025, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, population growth, and sustained investor confidence. The residential sales market recorded approximately 55,300 transactions, up 17.1% year-on-year, driven predominantly by exceptional off-plan activity. Off-plan sales surged to a record 42,000 transactions, up 23.6% year-on-year and accounting for 76% of total market activity, despite a moderation in new project launches during the quarter. However, off-plan resales declined to 6.1% of off-plan activity, down from 9.7% a year earlier. In contrast, the ready property segment showed more subdued activity, with transaction volumes declining 5.4% quarter-on-quarter and rising only 0.6% year-on-year, potentially reflecting price sensitivity among buyers or a short-term market correction.
26 August 2025
26 August 2025
To date, certain countries have attracted the lion’s share of overseas investment into their residential markets: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the UAE and the United States. These countries are all characterised by remarkably lenient regulations for foreign nationals wishing to buy real estate in their domestic markets. In the UK, for example, there are virtually no restrictions at all, neither geographic, nor residency, not sectoral, nor value. Controls exist only to confirm identity and to prevent money laundering.1 The USA, Australia and Canada are somewhat more restrictive – Canada even imposed a freeze on overseas purchases of residential real estate altogether in 2023.2
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