New dawn signalled for debt-ridden Dubai

If the Cityscape property conference and trade show sets the tone for the year ahead, then the future for real estate in Dubai and beyond can only be described as flat – but that is in itself an improvement after a year of precipitous declines.

Empty, subdued exhibition halls contrasted sharply with the exuberance of last year’s event. Then Cityscape was infused with a buzzy, if unrealistic, optimism, despite being held in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse.

That moment of hubris has come to define Dubai’s difficult year as developers announced multibillion dollar projects just as the bubble burst. Since then, real estate values have halved and rents collapsed amid stalled projects and insolvent developers.