Dubai's biggest developer Emaar halts new construction work

[DUBAI] Dubai largest listed developer Emaar Properties has halted new building work after a construction boom in recent years led to oversupply in the Gulf city, its chairman said on Monday.

Dubai's real estate market, where supply has outstripped demand for much of the past decade, has come under additional pressure this year from the coronavirus crisis.

"We as a group have stopped supply," chairman Mohamed Alabbar told a United Arab Emirates-Israel conference in Dubai, adding that demand was improving but the market remained oversupplied.

It was not immediately clear when Emaar, which counts Dubai's state fund as a major shareholder, had ceased new building work, although sources had told Reuters in April that Emaar had suspended work on major new projects.

Alabbar did not say when the firm would resume construction projects.

Emaar developed some of Dubai's most popular and expensive neighbourhoods and major projects such as the world's tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa.

REUTERS