UAE realty learns lessons from Lehman | GulfNews.com

UAE realty learns lessons from Lehman | GulfNews.com:

"

• Image Credit: Abdel-Krim Kallouche/Gulf News Archives
• Skyline view of Dubai Marina Towers in Dubai. According to Abu Ali Malek Shroff, CEO of Sheffield Holdings, ‘the downturn of 2009 cannot all be coloured in black where local real estate is concerned. Marina 101 was one among the many projects announced during the peak years between 2005 to 2008’.

UAE’s property market has every reason to blame Lehman Brothers for the freefall it went through in 2009 and the on-edge nature of its existence in 2010. No other sector in the local economy had to bear the direct — and immediate — consequences of the investment bank’s failure which set off the chain of events that culminated in the Great Recession.
Foreign investors who had huffed and puffed local property levels to stratospheric levels between 2005 and September 2008 made a beeline for the exit doors. Developers who it seemed were there just to announce a new project every other week found they were staring at a vacant marketplace. Genuine investors who came on board the realty show in the hope of staying for the long term found that the promise of prestige projects with celebrity neighbours was about to become a living nightmare.
For sure, UAE’s property market — and its then stakeholders — can blame it on Lehman. But a full five years down the line, it has a lot to be thankful for as well."

'via Blog this'