Not surprisingly, the second home sentiment survey has demonstrated poor sentiment towards real estate in the Gulf. The survey was conducted in the first two weeks of July and represents an opportunity to gauge the impact of Covid-19 on homeowner and renter attitudes. The survey asked renters and homeowners in the region to give their view on the coming six months, as well as the past few months.
In the UAE, renters indicated market weakness. Overall, 75% of renters reported that they were able to negotiate lower rent in Q2. None of this should come as a surprise, given indications about the market over the past 12 months, even before factoring in the impact of Covid-19. However, within this cohort, there was a clear skew towards larger declines in rent: of the 75% reporting a fall in rent, 37% (29% of total responses) negotiated a drop of 10% or more, 31% (23% of the total) a drop of 5 to 10%, and the remainder a drop of 0 to 5%.