A recovery in the Middle East real estate sector is expected within the next 12-24 months, according to a survey released by the organiser of Cityscape.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents to the poll released by Informa Markets, organiser of Cityscape’s Real Estate Summit, said they anticipate recovery for the region’s property industry within one to two years.

Nearly a third added that they expect to see green shoots of recovery starting in the next six to 12 months.

Respondents said that the expansion of industrial and manufacturing industries is critical to both real estate sector recovery and non-oil revenue diversification, with warehousing (60 percent), data centres (56 percent) and manufacturing plants (55 percent) viewed as key growth areas across the region, while residential and healthcare real estate were considered to be the fastest recovering sectors.

The importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) was also flagged, with 86 percent viewing it as the UAE’s primary growth factor.

Elsewhere in the survey, GCC and Levant countries (55.9 percent), and China (51.64 percent), were identified as key markets for investment and end users.

Despite the challenging situation created by the global coronavirus pandemic, 42 percent of real estate professionals peg the MENA region for growth. Similarly, 46 percent forecast growth across GCC countries.

The survey, undertaken by over 500 professionals including developers, architects, designers, investors, brokers and market analysts, covered a range of sector-critical topics important in commercial, industrial, retail, hospitality and residential real estate.

Chris Speller, group director, Cityscape, Informa Markets, said the report for the second half of 2020 was an essential data study in what is "clearly a challenging time for the market".

The UAE & MENA Real Estate Report results will also be discussed at Cityscape’s Real Estate Summit, a one-off edition of Cityscape at Dubai World Trade Centre on November 16-17.