Confidence in the outlook for the UAE commercial property sector declined sharply in the final quarter of 2009, driven by uncertainty surrounding Dubai's debt issue, a new report said on Monday.

The first UAE report by the RICS showed that sentiment towards future lettings in the office, industrial and retail sectors fell significantly compared to the previous quarter.

'After encouraging signs in Q3 where confidence levels turned positive for the first time in 12 months, the drop has seen confidence in all three sectors return to levels more akin to Q1 2009,' the report said.

arabianbusiness.com