Conservative financial policies and strong liquidity will remain a credit strength for the UAE real estate companies while their operating environment continue to deteriorate as the economy slows on oil price decline and coronavirus effects, Moody’s Investors Service said.

“The UAE real estate sector has slowed significantly during the past five years and we expect coronavirus to further slow home sales and lower rental prices. We expect a decline in residential prices in the next 12-18 months because most UAE markets are still suffering from persistent imbalances as a result of excess supply,” Moody’s analysts Lahlou Meksaoui and Mario Santangelo said in their latest report.