DUBAI: Emirates REIT, a Dubai-based Shariah-compliant real estate investment trust, said on Sunday it was considering de-listing from Nasdaq Dubai amid a downturn in the United Arab Emirates' real estate sector and weak equity market conditions.

"It is looking likely that a return to operating as a private REIT, at least temporarily, is in the best interests of the fund and its investors," the company said in a statement.

It said current market conditions in UAE public equity markets had damaged the share's performance and led to an "unjustifiably large gap between the fund's share price and its true value".

The real estate sector in Dubai, one of the main emirates of the UAE, has been sluggish for years, due to a chronic oversupply of homes coupled with weak economic growth, a problem now exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis.