The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) at Dubai Land Department (DLD) honoured real estate companies and their employees, including real estate brokers and valuators in appreciation of their efforts to encourage real estate investment and their commitment to the laws, regulations, and honour of the profession, which is urged by DLD by organising the broker classification of intermediaries according to the gold and five-star categories, which has achieved positive results since its launch.

This came during a ceremony organised by RERA and attended by HE Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD, HE Juma bin Humaidan Deputy Director General of DLD, and HE Eng Marwan bin Ghalita, CEO of RERA. During the ceremony, RERA honoured 54 real estate brokers and offices — 23 brokers and 31 brokerage offices — and 11 valuators and valuating companies.

HE Sultan Butti bin Mejren honoured the first generation of real estate brokers, and two winners of national brokers category with the highest sales value: Ali Abdullah Ahmad Al Haj from Ali Al Haj Real Estate Broker, and Aisha Yousef Al Hammadi from Al Asala Real Estate Broker. He also honoured Walid Al Zarouni in the 3-star broker classification category, as well as the S&P Realty office for the best-selling real estate office category in citizen-owned areas.

Bin Mejren said: “Emirati brokers managed to achieve a distinguished real estate performance during 2019, managed to win the golden category, and demonstrated their commitment to laws and regulations and their endeavor to progress upon these achievements in 2020 as well as contribute to consolidating the attractiveness of Dubai’s real estate market in Dubai. At DLD, we are keen on enabling citizens to work more in Dubai’s real estate sector and encouraging them to do so through initiatives such as the National Broker.”

Bin Ghalita commented: “Real estate brokers play an important role in promoting the real estate sector inside and outside the Emirate. They also contribute to attracting investors by highlighting the distinctive features of the real estate sector. We are keen to ensure the rights of brokers through controls and legislation as well as help them perform their duties with high efficiency and complete transparency.”

The total value of sales sold through real estate brokers  exceeded AED 14 billion, and the brokers earned over AED 301 million in commissions for their activities. There are 41 real estate valuation companies currently operating in the market, with a total of 81 registered valuators who completed 2,060 valuation certificates. The total value of transactions issued by real estate valuation companies exceeded AED 7.9 billion.”

Ali Abdulla Al Ali, Director of the Real Estate Licensing Department in RERA, said: “The annual honouring ceremony is held to appreciate the efforts of those working in the real estate market, which contributes to motivating them to develop work mechanisms and provide distinguished services to customers.”

Al Ali added: “We launched the second phase of the broker classification project to classify 5,880 real estate brokers, having previously classified 1,842 brokerage offices as part of RERA’s strategic objectives to establish a professional real estate business sector. The first phase of the brokers' classification included the classification of real estate brokerage offices according to the gold, silver, bronze, and general categories. The second phase of the project was to classify the real estate brokers working in the brokerage office according to the five-star system, which is based on four main criteria and ten sub criteria. This helps investors and customers know the brokers’ and offices’ classification, and identify and choose the brokers working in the office to take the appropriate decision.”

Al Ali concluded: “The real estate valuation offices have been classified according to the gold, silver, bronze, and general categories, and the classification is based on four main criteria and ten sub criteria, while the real estate valuators working in these offices are classified according to the five-star system based on four main criteria and nine sub criteria.”

DLD, through RERA, honours those who got a high rating, and who deserve appreciation for their outstanding performance every year. The rating is annually updated, and all customers and investors can view the brokers’ ratings through the Dubai REST platform.