Friday 8 April 2011

Dubai property fraud: Need for caution (1) - Daily Independent

With an earned status of an international business and re-export centre, Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates, is a cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic city and widely acclaimed as the business, social, and tourism capital - the business hub of the Middle East. It is situated in the Arabian Gulf, but far away from the Middle East’s political hotspots. The city is reputed for its business-friendliness, notably government policies that allow one hundred percent (100%) repatriation of capital and profit. Dubai has over twenty-year track record of strong economic growth, infrastructural development and political stability.

It has over time been a ceaseless attraction for foreign investors, especially those that seek to invest in real estate. Real estate projects in Dubai generally take the form of master communities managed by master developers. Master developers provide the infrastructure and divide the land into plots. The plots are normally sold by a master developer to smaller property developers who transform the plots into residential or commercial centres, ranging from tall towers to secluded buildings and villas.

The property and real estate market has no doubt shown a marked improvement in Dubai’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP. The promising return on investment in real estate in the city has in the recent past attracted teeming tourists to it from several parts of the world. With world-record attractions such as the largest shopping mall, the first underwater hotel, the tallest building and various other attractions in the city, Dubai has experienced rapid growth and a resultant real estate boom, which peaked in the middle of 2008. Prior to this time, plots and villas were generally sold off-plan and could be resold with the developer’s consent.

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