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The Holy Month of Ramadan has become, over the past years, synonymous with real estate mobility across Middle East property markets, with potential buyers looking forward to the price offers offered by various real estate developers to reach the largest segment of buyers during the month.

Over the recent years, both parties – buyers and developers – have been able to obtain good investment opportunities that have contributed to enhancing liquidity and cash flows for the benefit of real estate developers during the month.

According to the weekly real estate report of Al Mazaya Holding, property developers are continuing to launch promotions for their real estate projects at competitive prices, indicating the flexibility of the region’s real estate markets in light of their knowledge of the requirements of buyers from all categories. Launching promotions during the holy month is attributed to the usual decline in demand during this period of the year in addition to the concomitant summer recession, which is often associated with summer vacations, with various households and investors preferring to spend their vacations overseas.

In the UAE, investors and buyers continue to attract investors and potential buyers, with developers actively offering unique opportunities through exclusive offers during the holy month of Ramadan, including mouthwatering incentives such as exemptions from registration fees, service charges and reducing advance payments in general. Thus, we can safely say that the month of Ramadan in the UAE real estate market features valuable opportunities for investors and is the right time to own property for individuals.

According to the Mazaya report, promotion and market competition for attracting potential buyers will be at high levels in the holy month. Industry data showed a rise in real estate transactions during the first five months of this year, with a significant growth of 15 per cent compared to the same period last year, reaching AED 66 billion compared to AED 57 billion previously, while the value of investments jumped to AED 29 billion, resulting from the sale of 15,000 properties, which reflects market resilience before, during and after the month of Ramadan.

The report pointed out that the pace of real estate activity across the region may vary from one market to another during the holy month, but they remain similar in terms of the movement of prices and nature of investment opportunities available. The reduced working hours during Ramadan can affect the level of transactions related to the completion of buying and selling procedures; however, they stimulate searches and inquiries by buyers and tenants seeking to avail themselves of reduced real estate rates during this period of the year.

The report highlighted the real estate conditions in Oman and said that investors looking for serious investments find time to follow up market developments and seize lucrative deals during the month, taking into account its spiritual particularities and people’s preoccupation with their religious rites.

Property prices in the Sultanate remain stable without sharp fluctuations during the month as they are already lower than those in neighbouring markets, therefore, attracting buyers, investors and speculators, and building up customer confidence, based on the belief that prices will not go down furthermore than that. It is worth noting that the real estate market in Oman needs more stimulation efforts to improve the performance of business, tourism and transport sectors, and ultimately maximise returns, taking into account that buying and selling decisions are not limited to the month of Ramadan, specially that the decision to buy takes time that often exceeds the number of days of the month.

Al Mazaya pointed out that the Saudi real estate market abounds in myriad opportunities, with more fluctuations and volatilities as a result of the widening gap between demand and supply, with sales projected to continue to fall during the rest of the current year in favour of the rental sector.

On the other hand, rental transactions are booming during the holy month, with no price hikes recorded, creating more growth opportunities by the end of the month.

The report noted that current prices are beyond the purchasing power of most segments of society, which poses more challenges to demand-driven operations and pushes prices further downward, just to the benefit of the leasing sector.

The report stressed that successful promotions have become very important during the holy month in general and must continue beyond the month in order to engage potential customers under all circumstances. The report highlights in this regard the current geopolitical tension in the region as a driving factor behind ongoing volatilities in the real estate and energy sectors alike. Such a situation, says the report, adversely affects investment decisions and cripples promotion plans during the holy month of Ramadan, should they continue thereafter.