DLD to track performance, ensure transparency with new realty index

In its efforts to gain the confidence of global investors, the Dubai Land Department has announced plans to introduce a realty performance index that will enable them to track and benchmark performance.

Making the announcement recently, the DLD chief Sultan Buti Bin Mejren while acknowledging the progress achieved over the last two years said that the move was in line with its goals of ensuring a more transparent realty market.

Writing in JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI), 2016, Mejren noted, “The most significant of these lie in the area of performance measurement, where the current lack of a real estate performance index is a major constraint for institutional investors seeking to benchmark the performance of their assets.”

He further added that the DLD was actively looking to create such an index in tandem with a specialized index provider by the time of JLL’s 2018 survey, in support of improved transparency in Dubai’s realty market.

On its part Dubai has retained its standing as the most transparent real estate market in the MENA region as per JLL’s GRETI survey, clocking a 10% jump in its score over the last two years. The emirate improved its position in 15 of the 28 areas covered by the global survey, making the maximum improvement in the market data category.

With this, the emirate is now placed among the top cities in the Semi-Transparent category in the company of Tier I cities from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) nations and the four leading MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey) economies.

Citing an example of how the Dubai government has focused on the need to improve transparency to increase global investments into Dubai’s realty markets, Mejren revealed that the new Dubai Data Law (Law 26 of 2015) will encourage data sharing between both government agencies and stakeholders in the private sector.

He further stated that the sharing of data was a key component in the execution of the strategy behind Dubai’s transformation as a Smart City, in addition to several new initiatives launched by the DLD in the last few years.

These include:
DLD Investment Portal:
Launched by the Real Estate Investment Management and Promotion Centre, the website hopes to woo investors to off-plan projects. It also includes an integrated set of apps on best practices and enables investors to access available investment opportunities on their smart devices securely thereby easing the decision-making process considerably.

Calculator to track rental hikes:
This service has been designed to improve transparency in the rental market by providing data to both tenants and landlords. The rental calculator is updated on an annual basis and is based on data collected from multiple sources.

These include the leases registered in the DLD’s Ejari system, field surveys and analysis of units available through billboards, online platforms, publications and meetings with realty companies. The rental index is applicable to both residential and commercial units.

RERA rating for brokers:
This new system introduced by Rera which is the regulatory arm of the DLD has four categories – Gold, Silver, Bronze and General – to encourage competition among brokerage firms and enhance transparency in the realty sector.

Service Charge Index:
Launched in October 2014 by Rera, this is a service charge and maintenance index for freehold areas & provides details on approx 300 projects across 22 master developments including a break-up of approved charges.