The chief executive of Deyaar Development has dismissed concerns over the strength of the Dubai property market.

He made his remarks just days before the real estate industry gathers in Dubai for the annual Cityscape exhibition, which is being held against a backdrop of steep declines in property transactions.

The Deyaar chief executive Saeed Al Qatami also pledged to complete 90 per cent of the company’s 2,500-unit Midtown residential project in the International Media Production Zone district by the end of 2020.

A wave of new projects were launched in the first half of this year even as the prices for completed homes have fallen by about 10 per cent year-on-year, according to the property research firm ReidIn.

A new Cluttons report on the UAE property market says 41,000 new off-plan units have been announced so far this year – about half of those are at Nshama’s Town Square project.

Mr Al Qatami said that supply and demand for housing units fluctuated, but said that if Dubai’s population of more than 2.3 million grew at just one per cent a year, about 23,000 new homes per year would be needed. The actual growth rate of Dubai’s population last year was more than 5 per cent, according to Dubai Statistics Centre. Details