Tag Archives: status-contact
Emaar eyes tower even taller than Burj Khalifa
Emaar Properties is considering building another world-record breaking tower bigger than its own Burj Khalifa, which is the current holder of the world’s tallest building, according to its chairman Mohamed Alabbar. “We may try to build something a little taller,” Alabbar said at a conference in Dubai. “The emirate needs another tall building. Dubai is only about 30-year old, so we have a lot of time and lot of investment left,” he added. Emaar Properties built the 828-metre Burj Khalifa tower in 2010 and is also involved in the Kingdom Tower, which is being developed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and is under construction in Jeddah. The Saudi tower is reportedly set to be as high as 1km tall. Already the holder of the world’s tallest building title, the new plans Alabbar has hinted at would have appeared fanciful three years ago, when a crash in the inflated real estate market triggered a corporate debt crisis and a slew of company restructurings. But Dubai, home to an archipelago of man-made islands and an indoor ski slope in one of its shopping malls, staged a dramatic economic recovery last year, partly because of a tourism boom. Tourist arrivals grew 10 percent and hotel revenue rose 19 percent in the first half of 2012. Some state-linked companies have been working through their debt loads while some property prices have started to rebound. Continue reading
Dubai’s GDP grew by 4.4% in 2012, new figures show
Dubai's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 4.4 per cent in 2012, new figures have confirmed.According to the Dubai Statistics Centre, the emirate's economy expanded at its fastest rate since 2007 over the course of the year.The city fell on hard times during the global financial crisis – with GDP contracting by 2.7 per cent in 2009 – but this latest report highlights just how strongly it has recovered. GDP rose by 3.5 per cent in 2010 and then increased by 3.6 per cent in 2011.This shows the sheikhdom has been heading in the right direction for a few years now and experts think this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.Bloomberg reports the cost of servicing its debt declined rapidly in the past 12 months, which is another indication that the government has brought things under control. Borrowing costs also plummeted in 2012, the news provider revealed.Unsurprisingly, it was the hospitality and tourism sectors that contributed the most towards Dubai's improved performance last year, with restaurants and hotels having a particularly successful 12 months.More resorts reported increased occupancy levels and this has prompted developers to start erecting new hotels in the most popular parts of the city.This means the construction industry – which had been badly affected by the global economic collapse – has found its feet again and anybody who has visited Dubai recently will have seen the cranes moving once more.Businesses throughout the emirate are certainly confident that things are looking up and a study conducted by the Department of Economic Development last month showed that firms are expecting to boost their profits in the second quarter of 2013.Indeed, as many as 91 per cent of the companies that took part in the survey are predicting bumper revenues during the three-month period.On hearing the results, director of the department His Excellency Sami Al Qamzi said Dubai's construction, aviation, logistics and property sectors are all flourishing. Continue reading
Neighbouring emirates benefit from high Dubai rents
The strong demand for properties in Dubai has enabled landlords to significantly increase their rents in recent months and this is having a knock-on effect in neighbouring emirates.Cluttons has revealed that many people looking to relocate to the UAE have been priced out of Dubai and are instead heading slightly further north to Sharjah, the National reports.This has inevitably led to rising rents in the smaller emirate, with property brokers confirming that rates have soared by 15 per cent in the last six months. Experts also predict a further 15 per cent increase in the second half of 2013.In more exclusive parts of Sharjah, landlords are demanding rents that are almost at the same level as those charged in 2007 when the real estate market was booming.Shane Breen, associate director at Cluttons in Sharjah, told the news provider: “Landlords are taking advantage of higher rents in Dubai and tenants are paying.”He added that the massive demand for rented accommodation in this particular emirate has caught the attention of property investors.”Investors are not looking to develop their own projects at the moment but we have seen a number of these people coming in and buying existing buildings,” Mr Breen was quoted as saying.It does not take long at all for Sharjah residents to travel into the heart of Dubai and there is every chance that transport networks between the two emirates will be strengthened in the near future.Migrants continue to flood into the UAE in search of better job opportunities and a more relaxed way of life, which is having an impact on property availability.Farouk Soussa, the chief economist in the Middle East for Citigroup, told the same news provider that he expects Dubai house prices to go up by 35 per cent this year and rental rates will rise by a similar amount.His comments came shortly after the Dubai Statistics Centre confirmed that property prices increased at their fastest rate for more than three years in April 2013.The First Group can help you find perfect properties in the UAE Continue reading
