Dubai is set to house the Gulf regional branch of the world’s first specialised real estate exchange operated to serve the Middle East and North Africa, it has been announced.
The Irex Group said it plans to launch its first group of exchanges, Irex Europe/Mena and Irex Canada in 2012. It will also seek permission from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to operate an Irex exchange in London.
The company will create and operate a regulated securities marketplace for the listing and trading of real estate assets in key financial centres around the world. The exchange will list securities of real estate projects that are approved and licensed by governmental authorities.
‘The development of a real estate exchange took 10 years from the company and now we are in the process of establishing this exchange on the ground,’ said Safar Al Harthi, Executive Chairman of the Irex Group.
‘Dubai is the preferred location for the regional branch of the real estate exchange due to its infrastructure and regulatory framework. The real estate exchange will be dedicated for trading in asset backed securities in the real estate sector only and this will be unique around the world,’ he added.
The exchange will create a wide variety of financial instruments to securities real estate assets such as real property investment units (RPI Units), real estate investment trusts (Reits), common/preferred shares, trust structures and debt securities.
It is likely to be a welcome boost for investors in Dubai who are also looking to be able to snap up some bargains in the emirate’s first public auction of repossessed properties which is due to take place next month.
Dubai’s Land Department has begun evaluating repossessed properties ready for the first auction of its kind in the emirate where real estate prices have fallen by up to 50%.
‘We anticipate the first public auction to be held in a month’s time,’ said Jody Waugh, a partner at Dubai based legal firm Al Tamimi and Company.
‘We have received the first evaluation from the DLD on a property that will be publicly auctioned. It is an official evaluation from the Land Department. So, I believe we are close to our first public auction under the mortgage law,’ she explained.
It is understood that around 10 properties have been approved for auction by Dubai Courts and valuations have been set at current market prices so they are likely to be a considerable bargain as real estate prices have halved since their peak at the end of 2008.
