Buying Property in Dubai – Confusion and lack of Transparency an Issue

Dubai's lack of transparency is causing potential investors to pull out of the market in droves. Foreign investors withdrew as much as $57 billion from UAE banks in October. The plan of producing press release after press release claiming unreasonable strength in the Dubai property market is backfiring dramatically. When faced with conflicting reports about the state of the market and no true figures, many are chosing to ignore Dubai as an investment completely.

Here are a few recent reports, mostly coming from "news" sources in the UAE with lurid headlines and almost no information backing the claims up and dramatically opposite information being produced at the same time.

Headlines:

Dubai real estate prices may not come down

Dubai's real estate will not see a decline in prices from what they were prior to the global market meltdown, according to a new report.

"This is a great demonstration of how strong the real estate market in Dubai is," said Tariq Ramadan, Chairman of Tharaa Holding and author "Dubai Real Estate Market Report, The Rescue Plan, Q4 2008 - Interim Report".

He said cash-rich local and international individual investors continued to show faith in the property market and hence the prices have not declined.

Emirates 24/7

A few days before:

Slowdown in Dubai real estate sector will be shortlived, experts say

Dubai: The real estate industry in Dubai is currently at a standstill, as fewer people are buying new properties due to much speculation in the market and the liquidity squeeze that gripped the local banking sector recently, experts said on Tuesday.

Gulf News

At the same time, Damac properties is shedding staff, blaming the "continuing global slowdown." Zawya; yet another Dubai business leader is being questioned over financial irregularites in the property sector. Financial Times; sales of off-plan property have all but dried up, and many properties are back on the market at or below the original price. Property prices falling in Dubai.

The Dubai government has taken some major steps to ensure the market does not collapse completely, but with such a wealth of conflicting information being disseminated, and no true transparency, until such times as the government deals with these issues, Dubai's property market will continue to fall.