The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has reported that residential prices in Dubai dropped 0.9% YoY in Q3 2020, referring to inexorable pressure from the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, Invest-Gate reports.

Citing data from the Dubai Land Department (DLD) on December 22, the CBUAE said the emirate’s rents continued its descending trend and plummeted 6.9% YoY during the third quarter of the current year.

The central bank also showed property prices were stabilizing after a 3.5% decline in Q1 2020 from a year earlier, noting that COVID-19 has stressed Dubai’s property market, “which for years has seen supply outstrip demand for new houses and apartments.”

Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, residential prices slipped by 5.5% in the third quarter of 2020, whereas QoQ prices went up 0.9%, the central bank said. Rents in Abu Dhabi declined by 3.9% YoY during the same year, compared with the year-ago period.

The UAE economy, according to the CBUAE, is poised to contract by 6% in 2020, hit by the Coronavirus shock and oil output cuts, but is projected to rebound to a 2.5% growth in a subsequent year, led by non-oil GDP growth.