The Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance, Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) and the Dubai Real Estate Institute (DREI) have signed a memorandum of understanding for the initiative.
The companies said the MOU reflected a ‘commitment towards improving the corporate governance regulatory framework’.
According to Nasser Saidi, executive director of Hawkamah, improving and strengthening corporate governance practices is one of the pre-requisites to protect property rights, gain and maintain investors', markets, home owners, tenants and their associations and other stakeholders' confidence in the real estate sector.
‘The real estate companies, property developers and valuation agencies need to become more transparent through better reporting of transactions and prices,’ he told Arabian Business.
He added that the landmark initiative would produce the first ever real estate corporate governance code in the region.
The aim is to have a real estate market that comes up to the best international standards, according to Marwan Bin Ghalita, chief executive officer of the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).
The emirate’s real estate market was dealt a heavy blow with property prices plummeting during the global economic downturn and still not recovering as many analysts are predicting slow sales and further price corrections.
It is hoped that by injecting more transparency into the real estate market confidence will return and foreign and local buyers will re-enter the markets.
‘By implementing governance practices Dubai's real estate market will be the first market in the region to adopt such an important initiative. This initiative will help make our market more transparent and investment friendly,’ explained Bin Ghalita.
