Dubai Property Prices: Should Investors Take Note?
Published on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Dubai’s property market was a star that shone brightly right up until the back end of 2007 when the rug was pulled so sharply from beneath it that it collapsed in spectacular fashion. Property prices are reported to have almost halved last year, to have fallen by a further 41% during the first quarter of 2009 and perhaps now, according to a new price index report from Knight Frank, the bottom of the crash is about to appear.
According to the global estate agency, Dubai’s property prices have ‘only’ fallen by about 7.5% in the second quarter of 2009 – and so with this in mind, should investors begin to take note and re-examine the offerings in Dubai’s real estate marketplace?
In this report we’re going to look into the viability of an investment made into property in Dubai. We’ll examine whether there are fundamentals that will support the market’s recovery, what is in place to prevent such a collapse happening again, whether there are finance methods appropriate for would-be investors, and what sort of overall investment approach one should use if one wants to enter the market in Dubai.
Expatriate children traditionally return to their old home nation or another well-recognised country such as America or the United Kingdom to complete their tertiary education. This has a great deal to do with the fact that parents and their student children want an internationally recognised university education. After all, most employers will require this.
Secondary school education in Dubai is for children aged between 11 and 18, and children entering a school at this level for the first time may be required to undertake a short exam so that teachers can determine their abilities. School fees vary across all establishments, but the older the child gets in Dubai, the higher the fee structure for their education.
Primary school education starts for children in Dubai from the age of four and a half, and as you can imagine there are international schools available that cover almost all the major international curricula – from the British system to the International Baccalaureate for example.
The school season is upon us again after a lovely long summer recess, so we thought we’d better update you on the schools available in Dubai, their addresses, contact details and any pertinent information about the educational establishments themselves.
A friend recently over-nighted in Dubai on his way to New Zealand: this is a stop off on a trip he makes up to six times a year for business. On his return he commented how Dubai was dead…on further questioning he said the city felt lifeless to him, the airport felt deserted and all in all, the soul seemed to have been sucked out of Dubai.
An incredibly fascinating yet damning article in this week’s Sunday Times likens modern day Dubai to Sodom and claims that racism abounds in this state in the United Arab Emirates. The article by Rod Liddle highlights the fact that Emiratis generally disrespect Westerners and disapprove of our way of life, and that most foreign nationals living in Dubai find the local male citizens to be offensive, with one taxi driver cited as saying: “they are arrogant scum.”
We have an entire section dedicated to living in Dubai, and within it we have a plethora of articles about different elements of expatriate life in the emirate – from coping with Ramadan and culture shock, to getting a visa or even a license to buy alcohol – but if you want a quick, no nonsense overview to life in the emirate, this article is for you.
