Demand for property management professionals within Middle East real estate sector to rise in 2009

source AME Info

Demand for property management professionals within the regional real estate sector to rise in 2009, according to Macdonald and Company, the leading recruitment consultancy focusing solely on the property industry.

The company announced that it will be launching the 'Salary, Rewards and Attitudes Survey 2009' for the Middle East real estate sector at the upcoming 'Cityscape Dubai 2009'.

Designed to give both employers and employees a transparent overview of the current job market scenario within the Middle East real estate sector, this year's study will focus on the correction of salaries and packages in the past 12 months, how redundancies have affected professionals and the talent redistribution witnessed across the region.

The last 12-18 months has driven speculators away and financing (for developers and investors) is much harder to come by. This will ensure that developments (particularly residential) will be geared more towards the end user in the future.

Lots of developers are now nearing completion on their flagship projects and are looking for specific skills-sets to help them manage their completed buildings in an efficient and cost effective way. Specialised departments such as facilities, asset and property management are likely to be either expanded or created as the focus of the market changes from delivery to management.

Office agency and leasing teams will be more in demand as the market becomes more competitive with more products available. The focus within construction has also changed direction towards cost-saving, meaning that skilled commercial managers, claims professionals and accountants are more crucial than ever.

Matthew Taylor, International Director, Macdonald & Company, said:

'As the Middle East real estate market continues to evolve at an astonishing pace, our main objective is to give both employers and employees an indication of where things stand now. We also have a unique opportunity to see what new skills are being bought into the market and to get transparent feedback from professionals on how market conditions have affected them and where they see things going in the future.'

Taylor added, 'The fact that salaries have seen an average increase of 12% last year and 14.2% in 2007 - is directly related to the exponential growth witnessed in the region's real estate sector over the last few years. Therefore, due to the global economic situation and the correction in property market, it is fair to say that we are likely to see a decrease in average salaries this year.'

As part of its longstanding partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Cityscapeintelligence.com (CI), the survey will be conducted in cooperation with the two bodies to ensure industry-wide participation and accurate, thorough results. The 2009 survey will also be available in the Arabic language, in line with the company's commitment to give the study a more regional profile.

'There is still recruitment activity in the market as top talent will always be needed. As we predicted this time last year, we are seeing new skill-sets coming into the market as well. In global terms, the Middle East is a very progressive region economically, but the real estate market is still emerging and is therefore bound to face some difficult times along the way. Our goal is to help companies make informed decisions with regard to their most important investments, their employees. In addition, our partnership with Cityscape Dubai, which is regarded as the most important real estate event, for the yearly launch of our survey underlines the credibility of our study. We are expecting around 2,000 responses this year and with our Arabic questionnaire we would hope for better representation from GCC locations outside of the UAE. We encourage property professionals across the region to go online and complete the five-minute survey,' concluded William Buck, International Director, Macdonald & Company.

During the exhibition, consultants from Macdonald and Company will offer honest, professional career advice to job searchers. Clients looking to make appointments can expect assistance with recruitment, salary benchmarking, organisational structure, job descriptions and anything relating to employment in the region. Visitors can also collect a copy of the 'Salary, Rewards and Attitudes Survey 2009'.

Leveraging Cityscape's exhaustive database of real estate professionals and companies across the region, the results of the survey will also be published on Cityscapeintelligence.com and the Cityscape Magazine.