No sales at first dubai auction

Despite the hype surrounding Dubai's first ever public property auction, not one property included in the event managed to reach its reserve and sell, resulting in the exercise being branded a flop by industry experts...

The auction, which was organised by Madania Real Estate, a subsidiary of Al Tamimi Investments, attracted more than 100 potential buyers but not one lot sold.

Held in the Al Yasat grand ballroom in the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel, the event was presided over by Raymond Kuceli, CEO of Madania and a licensed auctioneer. 

The four properties auctioned included three villas in Arabian Ranches and one penthouse apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residences.

The main complaint was that prices were too high but it was also suggested that the auction concept would take a while to ‘warm up' in Dubai. Property investors were far from convinced that Dubai is ready for the concept.

Prior to the auction, things were looking promising. Most of the attendees were property brokers and nine bidders had pre-registered for the sale. However, once the auction was underway, only three of the bidders actually made any bids and none of the four lots made their reserve price.

The first property, a villa in Palmera in Arabian Ranches, did attract bids of up to £393,000 to but failed to go the distance and meet its reserve.

Even more disappointing was the news that two of the four properties for sale attracted no bids at all.

Mr Kuceli said, "Despite the fact that we couldn't find agreement between buyers and sellers on the night, we did witness some competitive bidding for our first property and we understand that buyers remains interested in all of the properties put up for auction."

When people bid for property at auction they expect to get a real bargain and this auction did not offer that, according to some of the attendees. At present, there are so many distressed properties in Dubai that buyers can pick up a better deal on one of those than they could through the auction.

Despite this initial flop, organisers Madania has said that it still plans to hold more auctions and that the Dubai real estate industry will warm to the concept.

One auction attendee summed up the mood following the emirate's first auction. "For all its sheen, Dubai is not that open to new ideas."

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