Salaries of Real estate professionals in Dubai, still uneven

The real estate sector in Dubai, although has picked up from the lows of 2009, it has not resulted in increase in salaries of real estate professionals in the country, said an expert in the industry.

The pay-scales have not grown since last year, and nothing is likely to happen this year too, say industry sources. However, there has been stabilisation after being in free fall mode over the past few years.

Salaries have remained flat, although brokerages are still in cost-cutting mode. Sales and leasing staff commissions have levelled out owing to stabilisation in prices and rentals in several parts of Dubai, and consequently, their commissions too are falling, in comparison to the past three years, said Charles Neil, Chief Executive Officer, Landmark Properties.

Since the year 2009, there has not been any growth in salaries, and the agents are pressurized to lease or sell units. But, the current market is not easy, as people change their mind more often, and commissions are hard to come by, particularly, in areas with low-quality buildings.

However, in the opinion of few sources in the industry, salaries have gone up in the past year, due to improvement in real estate performance in Dubai.

There has been salary revision in 2011 in the range 10 to 12 percent, marking a fair increase within the context of Dubai real estate industry, and as the market improves, it is likely that the salary may grow in tune with market standards, said Human Resource and Operations Director, Better Homes, Partho Bhattacharya.

According to a report by Asteco, about the real estate sector during the fourth quarter of last year, the residential leasing market in Dubai has been characterised by strong demand and increased levels of transactions, resulting in stable average rental rates across majority of developments.

There was high demand for quality apartments, while there was less number of takers for the low-quality units. The increased user demand translated into good sales activity for units in established quality developments, implying that sales prices too remained stable over the past three months.

Posted on 16/2/2012

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