Dubai

colly said:
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.
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I think you missed the point re the culture; it wasn't referring to Dubai's culture, but that Dubai has many external cultures that haven't mixed.

Regarding you're comment on the many happy ex-pats in this 'special place' I have to disagree, although I'm sure these people exist.

the people like myself, and my remaining colleagues there have been there for almost a decade and are there simple for the tax, money and access to whatever they want, whenever they want. Once they become more family-orientated, they have no intention of staying.

The clincher for me was not being able to go out for lunch; its just simply too hot, we always ordered in.
As for people who go on holiday or honeymoon there, I have to tell them that yes Dubai is agreat place for a few days, but its Neither New York nor the Maldives in equal measure, and they shouldn't expect to be spending the day on the beach or in the dunes. So what else is there to do - Water world? The indoor ski-ing? its more of a giant 5-flags park than a major city.

I see Dubai as a play-thing for the global boom of the past 20 years; and while i 'like' Dubai (in the same sort of way I like Vegas or places like that), I don't think any of us will never 'value' it.

If they removed the tax-free status, the place would empty in a week; on that I have absolutely no doubt. Its no Barbados or Bermuda.
 
mainasia said:
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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For the most part I agree. However, the lack of good property journalism in Ireland is caused by the influence of advertisers and not by the laziness or lack of knowledge of journalists. Without positive articles, they are not interested and the Irish market is too small for newspapers not to put such huge importance on advertising revenue - particularly in the property pages. An exception to this has been typically the SB Post, but I'm sure it's been a constant battle for them.
 
budapest said:
For the most part I agree. However, the lack of good property journalism in Ireland is caused by the influence of advertisers and not by the laziness or lack of knowledge of journalists. Without positive articles, they are not interested and the Irish market is too small for newspapers not to put such huge importance on advertising revenue - particularly in the property pages. An exception to this has been typically the SB Post, but I'm sure it's been a constant battle for them.
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This is probably a bit off topic, but not entirely. It now seems clear enough that much of the interest in property in Dubai and other places of dubious investment merit flowed from it being hyped in the newspapers and other media. Budapest makes the point that a lack of objectivity by property journalists in newspapers may have been related to the huge advertising spend by the property companies, which was substantial.
This also obviously applied to other markets; Bulgaria comes to mind immediately as a similar market where in hindsight there was no investment case at all, other than the hype.
Makes you wonder though, how much of what you read generally in the papers is related to influence from interested parties, be they advertisers in a particular sector, or even politicians? If we can't trust the journalists in the property section, can we trust any of them? If we accept that the property journalists skewed the story, then we can't just say that property journalists are a distinctly separate species from "normal" journalists. They all report to the same editor, and/or newspaper owner.
Never believe anything you read in the papers?
 
Originally Posted by budapest http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=856215#post856215
For the most part I agree. However, the lack of good property journalism in Ireland is caused by the influence of advertisers and not by the laziness or lack of knowledge of journalists. Without positive articles, they are not interested and the Irish market is too small for newspapers not to put such huge importance on advertising revenue - particularly in the property pages. An exception to this has been typically the SB Post, but I'm sure it's been a constant battle for them.
The SB post an exception? Did you not see the adverts for Sunny Beach, Hungary, Dubai and Spain. The lack of integrity amongst journalists and editors was beyond belief. Adverts saying 'double your money in two years'. With the exception of David McWilliams I cannot remember any journalist making negative comments on these matters. As regards public spending we now have TV3 asking the question 'where has the money gone'? A bit late now lads! Where were you when the money was being spent? You did not have a clue. Investigate journalism? All you are doing now is commenting on history. Where is the class amongst these so -called protectors of democracy. They either avoided comment due to the last posters suspicion that they were pandering to 'interests' or they lacked substance in that they did not have an inquiring suspicious mind. I think perhaps they should re-appraise their careers or go back to writing in the area notes of the local newspapers.
 
Dubai home prices drop 41% in 3 months

New research shows Dubai home prices plummeted during the first three months of the year.
Real estate research provider Colliers International said Tuesday its house price index dropped 41 percent from the previous quarter.
It is the second straight quarterly decline after years of rapid double-digit growth.
The index measures prices in parts of Dubai where foreigners have been allowed to buy property since the market was opened in 2002. Those areas were largely responsible for Dubai's property boom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8022578.stm
 
Some information on the new UAE Federal law which was introduced over the weekend concerning visa's for property owners in the UAE. To get a 6 month multi entry visa the following conditions must be met:
1 The purchase price of the property must be more than one million dirhams.
2 The income of the owner must be more than Dh 10000/- per month. This could be income from outside the UAE.
3 The property must be sufficient to accommodate the family of the property owner, somebody with 4 children will not get a visa if they own a one bedroom flat
4 The visa is valid for 6 months only and the owner must leave the UAE before it can renew
5 The cost of renewing the visa is Dh 2000/-. This would be Dh 2000/- per person.
6 The visa holder is not allowed to take up employment with this visa. Should he or she find employment they would have to change the visa to an employment visa.

This is a federal law so it applies to all states in the UAE including Dubai.
 
simplyjoe said:
Originally Posted by budapest http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=856215#post856215
For the most part I agree. However, the lack of good property journalism in Ireland is caused by the influence of advertisers and not by the laziness or lack of knowledge of journalists. Without positive articles, they are not interested and the Irish market is too small for newspapers not to put such huge importance on advertising revenue - particularly in the property pages. An exception to this has been typically the SB Post, but I'm sure it's been a constant battle for them.
The SB post an exception? Did you not see the adverts for Sunny Beach, Hungary, Dubai and Spain. The lack of integrity amongst journalists and editors was beyond belief. Adverts saying 'double your money in two years'. With the exception of David McWilliams I cannot remember any journalist making negative comments on these matters. As regards public spending we now have TV3 asking the question 'where has the money gone'? A bit late now lads! Where were you when the money was being spent? You did not have a clue. Investigate journalism? All you are doing now is commenting on history. Where is the class amongst these so -called protectors of democracy. They either avoided comment due to the last posters suspicion that they were pandering to 'interests' or they lacked substance in that they did not have an inquiring suspicious mind. I think perhaps they should re-appraise their careers or go back to writing in the area notes of the local newspapers.
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It wasn't just the print journalists. In the brochure programme "a place in the sun" the presenters always try to close a sale by promising rentals for a holiday property. If the property being shown is above the buyers budget, you can be sure that a pitch along the lines of "the rent will pay the mortgage" isn't far away.
Even with the collapse of the markets, this pitch is still being used by them.
 
simplyjoe said:
Did you not see the adverts for Sunny Beach, Hungary, Dubai and Spain.
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That's the important difference. Advertisements are necessary for newspapers - otherwise they would have little to no revenue. My point was that, in my experience, SB Post property journalists have tended to be more accurate than most in their reporting. The adverts were of course the same in every newspaper and it would take a very strong-willed editor to turn down advertising revenue, particularly in the lucrative property industry.

A Place in the Sun and similar programmes are only of value as entertainment. I certainly wouldn't rely on them for any factual information.
 
More bad news from Dubai:

House prices in Dubai suffered the biggest fall among global property markets in the first quarter as a result of the economic crisis, a British real estate brokerage said in a study released on Tuesday. "On a quarterly basis, the most dramatic fall in prices were recorded by Dubai (40 percent) and Singapore (16.2 percent)," Knight Frank said in a note.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8526069


 
More bad news from Dubai:

Dubai house prices plunge into uncharted territory

"We expect a total drop in Dubai of between 50 to 60 percent from peak prices in 2008. We have seen a cumulative decline of 45 to 50 percent so far in Dubai," she told AFP.
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20090816T030428ZSJG79/Plunging Priceshttp://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20090816T030428ZSJG79/Plunging%20Prices</SPAN>


Dubai property owners still lack deeds

What she has not received from either of the property giants are title deeds – the crucial documents that verify ownership.

It is a predicament shared by many, their status as lawful owners in limbo because of the absence of a piece of paper that, after properties are registered with the Dubai Land Department, should be handed to buyers.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090815/NATIONAL/908149971/1010


 
Thanks for posting those articles, I really appreciate it.
We have had a very long and hard battle getting the title deeds for our property in D G.
 
Dubai property prices and rents still falling:

Dubai's property market still in 'downward phase of the cycle'

A new report on the state of Dubai's property sector as the market enters the fourth quarter of 2009 has found that all facets remained in the downward phase of the cycle, with prices and rentals likely to continue falling over the rest of the year.
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more here:

[broken link removed]
 
An interesting letter in today's 7 Days newspaper (a Dubai/ Abu Dhabi newspaper) which may be of interest to some. This letter reflects the situation of many people living in Dubai. The site is www.7days.ae/letters
 
Forgot to mention in my last posting that the letter heading in 7 Days is " For some of us the bashing is justified"
 
I was in Dubai last week and chatted to a few locals involved in construction. There doesn't seem to be the universal doom and gloom that the rest of the World is only just now seeing. They say the fan was already well and truly hit more than a year ago. Yet another new 60000 seater stadium project has just been announced (24/11/2009), so they actually see things slowly improving from here. Maybe they're still living in cloud cuckoo land. Also as announced today (14/12/2009), big brother Abu Dhabi has finally come up with a cash bail out right in the last hours before an impending default. The real question according to the locals was not whether the bail out was coming, but what Dubai had to give up in return, especially in terms of political power. I would suspect there'll be continuing major power shifts in the government, which will only serve to further increase risks in the area. And amazingly enough, the 5 billion dollar debt repayable this year is just a drop in the ocean compared to what is required over the next 3 years (estimated at 50 - 80 billion dollars). To put that in perspective, the UK bail out of RBS was around 36 billion pounds, and the total GDP of Abu Dhabi, the richest emirate, is only about 100 billion dollars. This is not the beginning of the end. This is just the end of the beginning..... 2010 is when the real crunch comes for Dubai, at least according to the bankers I've seen quoted.
 
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