Industry players said that new measures by the government to improve the standards of the real estate industry will not affect the prices of homes.
The government has just finished collecting data and gathering suggestions for new regulatory guidelines for the industry. The new measures will probably be launched by the second half of 2010.
Industry practitioners said that the government will possibly introduce a demerit point system next year, to penalize uncontrollable agencies and agents, as well as a central registry system that will list all accredited agents.
The upcoming measures aim to set a standard of professionalism in the real estate sector.
While some observers expect a slight change in the real estate industry once the new measures are implemented, most of them do not believe that property prices will be affected.
"There should not be any impact because we’re talking about increasing the service standards of the agents, in other words, professionalism,” said PropNex’s CEO Mohamed Ismail.
"This should, in fact, give greater confidence to investors abroad or for that matter, any of the local people who intend to upgrade from a public to a private property. So it’s plus-plus in terms of overall scenario.”