Bracing for the Bounce: Inside the UAE’s 2026 Property Rebound with Grovy Developers

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This is the Morning Drive, it's Mira Business FM. We're talking property development now. After months of cautious sentiment, there are some signs that confidence is returning to the UE property market. Buyer inquiries are rising. There we're seeing some stalled deals moving again. And developers, I think it's fair to say, are watching closely to see whether regional stability can translate into a sustained real estate recovery. Is this a temporary boost, or are we looking at a sustained recovery for the second half of this year? Back once again to break down the trends is Abhishek Jalan, who is the CEO of Grovy Developers back in the studio with us. It's good to see you, Abhishek. How are you?

**Abhishek Jalan** (0:45)
Good, good. Thank you for having me here.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:46)
You're always welcome. Let's start with the momentum, if we can. Does the recent diplomatic progress, if you like, on the ground, reflect an immediate uptick in your sales office, or is the market more measured? Where are we now?

**Abhishek Jalan** (1:03)
So, I mean, if I'm comparing this with March, April and May, June has been a better month, because obviously with the memorandum signed and, you know, getting clarity. I think the major thing in this market was getting clarity. So now we have some sort of clarity in terms of where we are standing. Major thing that, okay, fine, we have a 60-day period. Things are getting resolved. And the general understanding is things are not going to escalate. I mean, things are not going to escalate again. And when we are looking at the news, things are all moving in the right direction. We are having the, you know, transit moving across, things are moving across the Strait of Hormuz. And I think the major thing which was impacting here was the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices, all these things are cyclical. Things go up and down.
There will be some sort of news. Things will go up. This is not the peak of oil. I mean, 2022, we had oil going up to 120, 125
So, yes, in June, we have had good momentum coming in the market. Things which were stalled deals which were in the pipeline have started closing. And we see a larger number of inquiries coming in, in June itself, from this week itself. From last week itself, we have seen some decent inquiries coming in.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:10)
Okay, so first signs really of a, I was going to say post ceasefire, I guess that's where we are really, first signs of a recovery in the market then?

**Abhishek Jalan** (2:20)
First signs of recovery is getting increased number of leads.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:23)
Right.

**Abhishek Jalan** (2:23)
Then you have the conversion period which takes about three to four weeks, and then you start seeing conversions coming in. So now we have seen momentum or increase in the number of leads. So I think we can safely say that things are falling in the right order.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:36)
Okay, so you as a person, part of your job, if you like, is tracking the pulse of buyer confidence quite closely, I think. You're starting to see more inquiries.
There is some generation of, there's some movement essentially, right? So what are buyers looking for? Is the focus back on ready to move in units? Is there still appetite for off-plan projects? What are you finding?

**Abhishek Jalan** (3:03)
So again, that remains quite diversified, but the interest is predominantly coming in from people who are living in UAE.
So people who are going for off-plan are looking for both things. They want to look at investment or they want to look at self-use. So that trend remains there in the market. But majority inflow, as I said, is majority from people which are within the UAE, which is a good sign because you need local investments coming into the market. You need people who live here to come and start buying, which was not the case about two years back. You will see a lot of investors coming from outside UAE who would not be living here. So, I think that's a good sign.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:41)
So, that's the real story, isn't it? People that live here really understand what's going on here. So, that's the first kind of level of confidence boost, I suppose.

**Abhishek Jalan** (3:50)
And I think there's one another reason to that is because people who are here on the ground, they know what the reality is. Well, we all know that the media exposure that was there, I mean, a lot of things were not correct.
So, I think that that is just scaring investors which are not here, who are not present here. So, I think once travel starts, once tourism starts picking up, that sort of momentum will start coming back to the market.