French property prices have come down to earth with a bang, according a number of professional bodies, including the French National Federation of Real Estate Agents (Fédération Nationale de l’Immobilier or FNAIM)
More on Property Prices in France – No Soft Landing says FNAIM
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.
The Indian envoy to the UAE, Talmiz Ahmad says there will be no help for workers returning to India as the global downturn drops demand for unskilled workers in the construction sector in the Emirates.
More on Indian Envoy to UAE says No Help for Returning Workers
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%).
More on Property Crash Hot Spots – London Dubai and Hong Kong
An economics professor at the University of Chicago, Casey Mulligan, has just predicted that it is unlikley there will be a commercial property crisis, based on the fact that there was very little over-building in commercial real estate during the boom years.
The Abu Dhabi Real Estate and Investment Show has been hit hard by the global downturn. Exhibitors showcasing their latest projects said yesterday that they are finding buyers hard to come by. The sales staff just about outnumbered the visitors at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center on the opening day.
Norwich Union, who recently changed their name to “Aviva,” have put a freeze on investor withdrawals from their “Norwich Union Unit-Linked property fund.” The excuse they have given is that they do not have any money and want to liquidate some of their assets by selling some of the property into what has to be the worst commercial property market in the last twenty years. Good luck getting your money back if you “invested.” any money in this one.
More on British Property Prices continue to decline and Aviva Freezes withdrawals from Fund
With property values tanking in Dubai, Nakheel have now gone to the trouble of suggesting that David and Victoria Beckham “have shown interest in increasing their property portfolio in the UAE.”
As usual, it is hard to sift the genuine information from the press releases coming out of the UAE. To read some stories, anyone would think that the global financial crisis has passed the region by. According to Business 24/7 “Sweet Homes, an Ajman-based developer, said it will not lower selling prices for either of its two projects.”
