The Burj Dubai reached it’s final height of 818 meters recently, but we are hearing an interesting rumor that, the Burj Dubai is now wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government (see the recent Dubai bond issue) and as “punishment,” for their vaulted ambitions, the building will be left empty for at least one year after it is finished being fitted out.
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Moody’s Investors Service has concluded its review of the ratings of six government-related issuers (GRI’s) in Dubai and has taken multiple rating actions resulting in confirmations of four companies, and downgrades on two companies. The outlook on all ratings is negative.
Today, Limitless, owned by Dubai World has announced more cuts in it’s workforce and another delayed project in Dubai.
Dubai-based developer Limitless said today that it had cut 7% of its workforce and delayed its $61 billion Arabian Canal project thanks to the real estate collapse in the UAE.
In another statement of nationalistic behavior, Deyaar, on of Dubai’s major property developers, has affirmed it’s commitment to employ more Emiratis. Deyaar, one of the region’s fastest growing real estate companies, today announced its participation at the ninth annual Careers Show. The event is one of many initiatives through which the company seeks to achieve its target of 20 per cent Emiratisation by the end of 2009.
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The Citi Private Bank report commissioned by Knight Frank shows that the largest drops in residential property prices were in Hong Kong (-26.8%), the Home Counties (-19.4%), London (-16.9%) and Dubai (-19.1%).
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Deyaar developments in Dubai has admitted to a default rate of 60% on works-in-progress, and has agreed to reduce prices in an effort to bring defaults down to a manageable level. “Around 60 per cent of our customers came back to us saying they were unable to pay up on their property.” said Markus Giebel, CEO Deyaar.
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STOCKHOLM (Standard & Poor’s) March 17, 2009–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that it had lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on Dubai-based property developer Emaar Properties PJSC to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-’. The outlook is negative.
One thing about the global downturn that could be considered positive is the amount of scams and cons coming to light, and the small property investor has certainly been prey to many. In a booming economy, many of these were written off and the injured parties pleas for assistance were ignored.
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It looks as though even the ruling family of Dubai is not immune to the stunning amount of lawsuits and court cases flying around the property investment world at the moment. An Iranian businessman is suing members of Dubai’s ruling family for close to two billion dollars over real estate investments, in a case which opened on Wednesday.
If you are in the UAE and thinking of bailing out on Dubai, as thousands of ex-pats are doing daily- you better move fast, before the Dubai adopts a new rule that has just been implemented in Kuwait. A senior Ministry of Communications (MoC) official in Kuwait just has confirmed that the ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Interior (MoI) on a new plan compelling expatriate residents to pay any outstanding debts before they will be allowed to travel abroad.
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