Dubai’s Emaar predicts big increase in real estate business

DUBAI: Emaar Properties, Dubai’s largest property developer, expects its real estate business to increase drastically, and its recurring income will also grow, chairman Mohammed Alabbar said.
Alabbar also said market demand for homes in Dubai was very strong but “flipping,” the practice of buying speculatively for quick resale, needed to be controlled.
Emaar Properties stocks fell after reporting a drop in quarterly profit on rising costs, but the overall market recovered from an early slide, suggesting investors’ underlying optimism had not changed.
Property developer Emaar reported a worse-than-expected net profit of AED 556 million ($ 151.4 million) in the quarter ended March 31, compared to AED 606 million in the same period a year ago. A Reuters poll of six analysts had predicted an average profit of AED 600 million.
Emaar shares slipped 1.3 percent in response, but they remain up 48 percent since the end of last year.
The profit drop was largely due to higher sales costs, the company said, and revenue rose 16 percent.