Building a new funding base

Brian Pepper is one of hundreds of property developers faced with the new realities of building in the Emirates. With no off-plan sales to help construction begin and little bank lending to sustain it, developers like him are being forced to work together and allow buyers to move their deposits while scaling back the ambitious plans of a year ago.

The Irishman launched three towers at the Marmooka City development, located off Emirates Road in Ajman. Now he can build only two, as the scheme that was slated for 204 towers looks more likely to actually have just 20 buildings. He says banks remain unwilling to fill the financing vacuum created by the demise of off-plan sales.

“In Ajman there was never bank finance. But if Ajman Bank gave finance, the whole of Emirates Road would come out of the ground,” he says.