Visas for foreign buyers of property in Dubai need to be longer as they are hampering the country’s property market, according to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

Currently only six-month visas are issued to foreign homeowners and investors would favour more relaxed residency rules.

Nicholas Maclean, managing director of CBRE Middle East, said: “Shortness of residency is definitely keeping the buyers away. We do need to elongate the window that people have so they don’t need to go back and forth. The period we have at the moment is a barrier to entry.

“By tweaking the visa regulations the Government can control who buys here. And that might be a good thing, so they can keep people here who could be a long-term benefit to, rather than beneficiary of, the economy here. We should be encouraging people who want to come, bring their families, educate their children, spend into the retail markets and have a house.”

Dubai’s property prices have fallen by -50% since their peak in 2008, but the global downturn has wiped around $100bn off the value of the emirate’s developed property assets and, according to Colliers International, one in four homes now stand empty. Deutsche Bank predicts there will be an oversupply of 32,000 new homes by the end of 2010.

Charles Neil, CEO of Landmark Properties, said: “The one thing that would give a real boost to the property market would be if the federal Government would allow three-year visas. It would transform the market. This is the one thing that is keeping investors away at the moment.”