Collapsing oil prices have pulled oil rich countries into the global property malaise with capital values falling in emerging nations for the first time in the survey’s history, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) Global Property Survey.

The previously strong performing United Arab Emirates (UAE) saw capital values plummet from a positive balance of 65% to a negative balance of 83%. The outlook for future performance has in consequence turned very gloomy. In the UAE, 85% more chartered surveyors expect capital values to fall compared to a positive balance of 45% in the previous quarter. In Dubai, 96% more chartered surveyors expect capital values to fall even further over the next three months, a drop from a positive balance of 22% in the previous quarter.

In Russia, worries over macro-stability has seen investment sentiment fall, sending capital values lower. Eastern Europe has also seen an acceleration in price declines with Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and Turkey reporting price falls at almost double the pace of the preceding quarter. Commercial property in China has until recently remained relatively firm in the face of the global economic downturn. Most of the Chinese indicators have previously remained in positive territory, with both supply and demand holding up and expectations generally upbeat. However, the number of surveyors reporting a fall than a rise in capital values hit its worst level in the survey’s history. Some 72% more chartered surveyors reported a fall than a rise in capital values compared to a positive 18% in the previous quarter with surveyor sentiment for future rises also turning negative for the first time.

In addition, rents fell across more than 90% of the countries surveyed with the greatest downward pressure occurring across parts of Asia. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and India were ranked in the bottom five for rental performance as the collapse in world trade has smashed export earnings and business confidence.