Dubai house price growth slowed to 5 per cent in the third quarter compared with 16 per cent in the third quarter, with prices expected to fall in the next quarter, property consultants Colliers International said on Wednesday.

Year-on-year prices for the third quarter rose 80 per cent but price growth has continued to slow since the start of the year, Colliers said in a quarterly price index for the emirate.

Prices rose 43 per cent in the first quarter of 2008. "Over the past three quarters the rate of growth has slowed to the point where we expect overall price growth to enter negative territory in the fourth quarter," said Ian Albert, the company's regional director.

The report said that prices rose in the third quarter because of the attractiveness of ownership due to increased rental rates, the demand-supply dynamic for completed projects and competitive mortgages with low interest rates.

He said the slow down in the rate of price growth was because of seasonal lulls due to the summer vacation and Ramadan, investors selling in the emirate to buy in home countries heavily affected by the credit crisis and negative sentiment exerting pressure on prices.

Negative sentiment was caused by the global financial crisis and heavy losses in shares of real estate firms which raised doubts over their ability to complete projects, the report said.-Reuters