Dubai

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kildare09

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Hello,

Has anybody been to Dubai recently or have any feedback from friends who live there on what is going on at the moment out there ?
 
The construction market is dead. It collapsed in Oct/Nov last year. A good percentage of tenants worked in the industry and have either gone or about to go.

Spoke to a mate who now has to commute to Abu Dabhi daily for work.

Don't really know what prices have fallen but would say at least 25% from peak.

Until the credit market eases there will be no more real development there.
 
Here is an article that gives an up to date picture of what is happening in Dubai:

Dubai hit hard by financial crisis
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Several real estate properties have already dropped in price by up to 50% and we have not even seen the full extent of the global financial crisis. Analysts forecast much steeper forecasts ahead. Dubai’s economy diversified away from oil towards real estate and tourism making it extremely vulnerable to today’s market conditions…………..
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If you follow the link there is a video report too

http://www.globalcrisisnews.com/real-estate/dubai-hit-hard-by-financial-crisis/id=625/
 
Whats the current situation with Profile Developemnts?
 
we have been chasing them but not having much joy... we've been told we will get our title deeds in the next few weeks
 
I was in Dubai today and there is a noticeable change in the place since I was last there about 3 months ago. There were fewer people in the malls and those that were there were not buying. Property prices have dropped by at least 40% since November and are continuing to drop. Rents have now started to drop rapidly.There is a definite air of gloom around the place, Dubai is been kept afloat at the moment by money which Abu Dhabi is pumping into it but cannot go on indefinitely. A big exit is expected in June when the schools close, many families are expected to leave and not come back.
 
I spoke to a guy (son of family friend) last week who works for one of the estate agencies in Dubai. The picture he paints is very black; zero sales this year and he has been put on a "commission only" basis since before Christmas. He has been living on his savings and an occasional small commission from renting out an apartment or two. He spends his time hanging around expat places to try to snaffle new expats and get them to rent an apartment from the company he works for. He is staying on until either he runs out of money or finds another country that has work prospects. He doesn't want to come back here because there is no work in the sector either, and at least in Dubai the sun is shining.
 
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According to this article in a building magazine:
http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=667&storycode=3137035

1) 65% of Dubai’s GDP was real estate and construction.
2) Property prices on the Palm Jumeriah have halved.
3) Dubai owes $80 billion, $20 billion of which has to be repaid this year.
4) The Abu Dhabi bailout for $10 billion was only a drop in the ocean as far as the debts are concerned.
5) Billions of $’s worth of projects are being cancelled or put on hold.
6) 80% of the population are immigrants, many of whom are leaving.
7) Contractors are having difficulty in getting paid with many being owed £50M. Many of them have to renegotiate their fees and wait longer periods for payment, if they are lucky enough to get paid at all

It sounds like total meltdown!
 
Thanks Steve,

things don't sound too good out there but there are people still intersted in purchasing distress sales out there so maybe they know something we don't know!!
 
kildare09 said:
Thanks Steve,

things don't sound too good out there but there are people still intersted in purchasing distress sales out there so maybe they know something we don't know!!
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You will always get people looking for a bargain and if they can get a property at about 30% of what they would have had to pay for it last year then they will feel as though they are doing well. However, these people are just speculators (gamblers) just like the ones who pushed prices up in the first place by buying off plan, and they could end up loosing more.
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports
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Now that the Dubai dream has been shown to be more like a mirage, I imagine you'll see a lot more articles like this; before, pretty much all that was published were puff pieces.
 
My sister lives there and I have been there 3 times. It's a fantastic place and I really considered moving there, but not any more.

I was just about to post the same link as Charlie did above already: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html - very interesting read. This really is happening.

My sister said the airport is getting hundreds of cars abandoned at the airport every week - keys and papers inside. You cannot have unpaid debt in Dubai, they put you in jail. People are loosing their jobs, cannot get another one, cannot pay their bills, so they literally leave their car in the airport and fly home. They can never return.

Car dealerships are not taking any trade ins whatsoever. 2 years ago cars were approx half to one third the value they were in Ireland - now they are all worth significantly less.

If you had a secure job its a great place to be - but not the same as it was a few years ago. Nowhere is though really...
 
+1 on the value of that article. It really is comprehensive; an absolutely huge article; had to come back to it a few times on Sunday to finish it off (it was in either the Trib or the Sindo)

a dictatorship - oasis in the desert, build on slave labour is the gist of it.

Having been there I agree on the melting pot comment; none of the cultures mix, they are all segregated.
 
colly said:
My sister lives there and I have been there 3 times. It's a fantastic place and I really considered moving there, but not any more.

I was just about to post the same link as Charlie did above already: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html - very interesting read. This really is happening.

My sister said the airport is getting hundreds of cars abandoned at the airport every week - keys and papers inside. You cannot have unpaid debt in Dubai, they put you in jail. People are loosing their jobs, cannot get another one, cannot pay their bills, so they literally leave their car in the airport and fly home. They can never return.

Car dealerships are not taking any trade ins whatsoever. 2 years ago cars were approx half to one third the value they were in Ireland - now they are all worth significantly less.

If you had a secure job its a great place to be - but not the same as it was a few years ago. Nowhere is though really...
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So the only thing that bothers you about the place is that ex-pats aren't doing well anymore? And not the fact it's a cultureless dictatorship built on slave labour?
 
I was too tired to reply last night as i think you have already made up your mind about the situation out there. But her is a brief reply:

It is a very special place. It is now somewhat less of a special since the world financial crisis. Unfortunately due to a lack of funds they cannot continue with their growth plans which really impedes on the city that Dubai is, and will be.

I don't agree with "Cultureless Dictatorship built on slave labour". For these reasons:

Culture: It's a massive city that was almost nothing 20 years ago. The type of 'culture' people are usually accustomed to was grown over hundreds of years. it simply unfair to expect the same from a city like Dubai. It does have its own special culture - and many people quite like it. Of course there are certain aspects that we might not like, but overall the place is pretty great - that's why there are so may ex pats living there and enjoying it.

Dictatorship: Hmm, not in the strict sense of the word really. Sheik Mohammed is hardly a Saddam Hussein, Hitler or Mugabe etc etc. The Emerati's get treated unbelievably well. he does fantastic things for his country and the people love him - but not in the way other dictators were 'loved'.

Slave labour: Its no secret Dubai is built on a massive property boom which is only made possible by cheap overseas labour. They fly in thousands of Indians and Asians to do the labouring on these sites. They provide them with very basic housing and give them a couple of hundred dollars a month. Yes, seems horrific, but most of these people feed their families back home with this money and without it their families might starve - and its probably better than working in a sweat shop, which many members of their family back home are currently doing. Are the conditions sub-par? Yes they are. Are they underpaid? Probably. But it is 'slave labour' doing absolutely no good for anyone but the developers? I don't think so.
 
paddyd said:
+1 on the value of that article. It really is comprehensive; an absolutely huge article; had to come back to it a few times on Sunday to finish it off (it was in either the Trib or the Sindo)

a dictatorship - oasis in the desert, build on slave labour is the gist of it.

Having been there I agree on the melting pot comment; none of the cultures mix, they are all segregated.
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+1

I read the article and found it very informative. You'd never find such a piece written by a journalist for an Irish newspaper...beyond them.
 
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