john smith wrote:Mortgages are getting tighter in dubai Soul. Some are stil offering 90% but mainly to Locals. Expats can get 80/85% if they are lucky but the norm in reality is around 75-80%.
Not sure this is true, I have just bought a completed apartment and was offered 90% by ADCB, Dubai Islamic Bank and NBD. I have a friend who had the same experience and another friend who bought in the Views (resale but not complete) and got 95% from arab bank.
If anything I think as the mortgage market matures, the offers will get better, not worse in my opinion.
Walk into an established bank with many decades of lending experience like Lloyds TSB or Barclays and they will tell you what i have written. The Arabic banks will soon readjust their lending criteria if a downturn in the market commences, they have no real experience in the property market and this reflects in their LTR for mortages.
If you followed the money markets, this has already had a huge affect in the US with irresponsible lending and it is starting to take effect in the UK, where mortgages granted in September 2007 was the lowest for 15 years.
Any bank lending with a 5% deposit will regret that day when the property is devalued by 20% and the owner has a shortfall to redeem the mortgage, It is called "negative equity".
Furthermore, if the dirham is revalued against the dollar by around 30%, a foreign investor buying a property now, that may drop in value of say 15-20% could look at a loss of anything up to 50%. The banks will pull the plug believe you me, read the US press!