With so many new homes slated to enter the market, demand is projected to increase rapidly, especially from the millennials (those born between 1976 and 1990) who are primed to venture into buying homes instead of renting, according to the organisers of the International Property Show 2016 (IPS).

The Middle East’s biggest property sales platform for local and international real estate, IPS will run from April 11 to 13 in Dubai, UAE.

According to experts, the Dubai realty market is now more a brick-and-mortar market. Moreover, banks are offering better deals to owner-occupiers than to investors, which reinforces the new trend.

It is easy for more first-time buyers to qualify for a mortgage provided they are full-time employees, they stated.

Moreover, the recent move of Dubai Municipality to allocate over 100 hectares of land for affordable housing, mostly to meet the demand from people earning between Dh3,000 and Dh10,000 ($817 and $2721) per month, supports this trend, they added.

The experts hope to see a significant response from this category of first-time buyers at the upcoming show.

Accredited by the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority, the IPS is the leading consumer event in Dubai making it a perfect platform for both International and local real estate markets to showcase their residential, commercial and mixed-use real estate products and to conduct serious transactional business, said the event organiser Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions.

“We expect companies to showcase no-frills homes with prices tailored to the middle-income buyers, and first-time buyers,” remarked Dawood Al Shezawi, the chief executive of Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions.

“As the market is entering a new cycle, first time buyers will find greater convenience than in the past, including lower down payments, flexible lending standards and a bigger selection of homes to choose from. We are confident this new cycle will reveal a new category of buyers that real estate companies will target in the coming years,” he added.

Abdelbasset Betraoui, the managing partner, Land Sterling Chartered Surveyors And Property Consultants, expressed delight at being a part of the show for the third consecutive year.

"We have had a great response from our clients and have taken our own involvement to the next level by becoming a Bronze Sponsor of the event. We are definitely looking forward to the show this year and once again being part of IPS 2016," noted Betraoui.

The show will be held at a time when the‘brick and mortar’ housing market boasts greater flexibility and clarity.

“We at the International Property Show allow retail sales on the exhibition floor. This brings a more diverse number of buyers every year. 2016 will hold the best news for first-timers, especially considering that buying homes makes better sense than renting,” stated Al Shezawi.

"With rents rising faster than incomes, many first-time buyers are expected to start considering buying homes of their own rather than renting. This will generate more transactional deals of this category of buyers," he added.

The exhibition, which triggered transactions of over $40 billion between 2006 and 2015, is gearing up to welcome the largest number of exhibitors this year.

Among them are Land Sterling, Wahat Al Zaweya, Vendome International, Green Valley, Rubina Real Estate, Richland Real Estate, and Christie’s International Real Estate, that solely manages Emaar’s properties.

“We at Christie’s International Real Estate are delighted to be platinum partners of the show. As first timers we are especially privileged to be showcasing some of our exquisite properties and projects within the UAE as well as looking forward to learning more about the upcoming developments within the country,” said its CEO Brian Ethemad.

"We are excited to reach out to our existing clients from across the globe and to introduce new clients to our prestigious brand and what our company has to offer," he added.-TradeArabia News Service