Dubai, Doha office rents to soar 20%

Office rents in Dubai and Doha are likely to rise about 20% during the next year as demand outpaces supply and international businesses expand in the Gulf, said property services company CB Richard Ellis.

Read the full article here.

The Arabian Canal

The region's biggest engineering project with an estimated project value of US $11 billion (AED 40.3 billion) and extending 75km in length, the Arabian Canal will eventually become home to two million people - doubling the emirate's current population.

Says Ian Raine, development manager for Arabian Canal, Limitless: "It is just getting it moving. Obviously there has never been anything of this scale in Dubai - it is the largest yet ever undertaken, so we have challenges as part of that."

The face of Dubai will inexorably change once again. While it is often commented that a year is a long time for Dubai, come 2015, it is going to be unrecognisable.

Read the full article here.

Reaching for the sky

Abu Dhabi's desire to be one of the Middle East's main attractions in the coming years, was clearly illustrated earlier this year, when it announced a number of high-profile developments, which not only were broad in scale, but stood out against the frenzy of Dubai for their affiliations with international names such as the Louvre and Guggeinheim.

See the full article here.

The World's biggest airport being built in Dubai

Dubai World Central (DWC) - the massive 140km2 urban aviation community - is beginning to take shape.

Dubai World Central, which is focused around the Al Maktoum International Airport (JXB) also contains Dubai Logistics City (DLC).

JXB will feature two mega-terminals and six concourses designed to handle in excess of 120 million passengers and 12 million tonnes annually.

DLC will make up one part of the world's first integrated, multi-modal logistics platform in a single-bonded free zone environment comprising DLC, JXB, Aviation City and Jebel Ali port. It is being designed to become the region's unchallenged logistics hub, catering to two billion people throughout the Middle East, Indian sub-continent, Africa and the CIS, which are all within three to four hours flying time of Dubai.

Read the full article here.

City of wonders

Salem Al Moosa, on his US$1.5bn Falconcity of Wonders in Dubailand: "I want to tell the world we have mastered tourism in Dubai. I want to remove obstacles and bring cultures together. We are all human, and we should all love and live alongside one another. I want to develop that symmetry of life and for everyone to live happily ever after".

Shaped after the falcon, Falconcity is a community project featuring structures based on the wonders of the world; the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The project also includes famous international destinations such as Rome, Venice, Beirut, India, and New York.

See the full article here.

Bridging the gap

Here is an interesting story about how Kanoo, one of the large family-owned businesses in the Gulf, has established a broker company - Kanoo International Property Broker - aimed at helping investors from the Gulf who want to buy real estate in UK.

Their business model bears remarkable similarities to that of Desert Invest, and proves the concept that there is a need for someone who commit themselves to working on the buyers side.

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: Dhs 3 trillion

The value in Dirhams - equal to US$ 800 billion - of investment projects to be implemented in the Gulf states over the next five years.

More than 75 per cent of that amount will be in the non-hydrocarbon sector, the International Monetary Fund said in its Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia.

Read more here.

Bin Hu wants to paint "The World" red

According to this article, the Chinese businessman behind last week's purchase of ‘Shanghai' on Nakheel's The World, will bid to purchase every one of the six islands that represent China on the iconic project.

Bin Hu paid US$28m for the 322,000-sq ft island, which he intends to develop into a luxury development featuring an exclusive hotel and resort, and a series of palatial private villas. The other ‘China' islands are Macao, Beijing, Huainan, Nanjing, and Hong Kong.

Bin Hu marked the purchase event by planting a Chinese flag in the ground and scattering earth brought back from Shanghai over the island.

A few months ago, it was reported that Nakheel sold Greece for US$15.5m to an undisclosed buyer.

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 2 million

The number of gallons of water supplied every eight hours by the 50-km piping network covering The Dunes Golf Course in Dubai designed by Ernie Els. The infrastructure required to supply the 211-acre 18-hole signature course is now ready.

Almost two million m3 of earth have been moved to form the course and over 6,000 man hours have been spent shaping the course according the the September newsletter from Universal Group.

Set for an official opening in December 2007, there will be a time between completion and opening to allow the course to mature thus providing a high quality playing surface.

Dubai property market is maturing

The latest 'Strata Law' is a good example of one of the administrative and legislative structures coming in place in order to provide a framework for the relationship between buyers and sellers of property as well as the visibility of buyers into the project details.

Quoted from this article, the Strata Law could require developers to disclose a wide range of information in their sales contracts, including:

1. Building and community service charge budgets for both operational and capital expenses (including a breakdown on a per unit basis),
2. utility supply agreements containing a schedule of rates and charges,
3. copies of intended contracts of all pre-committed service contractors,
4. copies of constitution or association rules for future owners associations,
5. details of the intended titling structure for a project as well as staging of development and approximations of numbers of dwellings,
6. copies of survey plans showing unit boundaries, car park and storage allocation, and
7. details of other arrangements materially affecting an owner's interest.

It is concluded that greater transparency is designed to ensure that there will be no future surprises to investors or buyers. All the information will be there in front of them prior to signing.

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 600bn

The amount in Dirhams - equal to US$ 600 billion - that will be invested in real estate and related projects in order to realise Abu Dhabi's new "2030 Master Plan".

According to the Urban Development Council, which designed the master plan, the population of Abu Dhabi is set to increase from the current 930,000 to 3.1 million in 2030.

Read the full article here.

Drop in residential property prices not likely until 2009: EFG-Hermes

The Research Analyst at EFG-Hermes, Sana Kapadia says "Supply in residential property market will continue to be restrained this year. We expect the year 2009 to be the peak year for supply, which means that, the market may not see a decline in prices before this happens."

Kapadia went on to add that, a 10-15% rise in average prices is expected this year, while a rise of 5% to 10% is expected in 2008. Due to most supplies hitting the market in 2008, the prices will begin to drop in 2009, witnessing an approximate decline of 15% to 20% by 2011.

Read the full article here.

Qatar, Bahrain build friendship bridge

Essam Khalaf, assistant undersecretary for roads, from the Bahrain Ministry of Public Works: "The affects of the causeway will be massive for both countries. Politically and economically, it would benefit both sides as it would make Bahrain more accessible as a trade partner as well as physically unite the two countries."

In September 2001, Denmark-based Cowi signed an $11.3 million contract with Qatar's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture for the project's preliminary engineering and environmental investigations.

Clipped from Arabianbusiness.com.

Dubai's megaprojects

Gulf News has got a very interesting article about Dubai's megaprojects.

01. Arabian Ranches

02. Business Bay

03. Culture Village

04. Discovery Gardens

05. Downtown Burj Dubai

06. Dubailand

07. Dubai Marina

08. Dubai World Central (DWC)

09. DWC Residential City

10. Emirates Living

11. Dubai Festival City

12. International City

13. Jumeirah Beach Residence

14. Jumeirah Park

15. Jumeirah Village

16. Palm Jebel Ali (PJA) and Dubai Waterfront (DWF)

17. The Lagoons

18. Palm Deira

19. The Palm Jumeirah

20. The World

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 4.2 million

The area in square feet of retail space in phase one of Mall of Arabia.

Mall of Arabia is the major retail component of City of Arabia in Dubailand and often quoted as becoming the largest shopping mall in the world when it is finished.

The number of retail outlets is going to be 1200 and the project is expected to be completed within 21 months from now.

Assessing the escrow effect

Recently a new escrow law was implemented in UAE. One of the main elements was that developers have to provide bank guarantees to a substantial proportion of the development thus giving off-plan buyers a certain comfort.

Here is a comment published in ArabianBusiness.com by David Nicholson on Friday, 07 September 2007

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 1.7bn

The amount in USD that Mishal Kanoo, the chairman of the Kanoo Group is believed to own as personal fortune making him the world's 7th richest Arab.

Kanoo Group is the Middle East region's largest independent family-owned group of companies.
Source: CEO Middle East, August 2007 Vol. 2 Issue 7.

Dubai World invests USD 5.2bn in MGM Mirage

Rumors have been going whether we will eventually see a real casino in - not the Nevada, but the Dubai - desert. Is the latest mega-transaction from Dubai World a step in this direction?

As several analysts and industry players point out it will certainly provide the Emirati company with some hands on exposure to the gaming and entertainment market in Las Vegas:

Dubai World's first foray into the Las Vegas market will also provide it with a number of business opportunities Stateside as well as on-the-job experience. Albert Momjian, head of Calyon IB, tells Arabian Business in this article.

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 565

The growth in the GCC retail real estate market since 2000 when a whopping 16.35 million square meters of Gross Leasable Area (GLA) are estimated to be completed by 2010.


This tremendous growth, making the GCC area the fastest growing retail real estate market in the world according to a report recently published by top three global property service consultants Colliers International, is fuelled by UAE and Saudi Arabia with 44% and 30% respectively of the GLA by the end of the decade.

Article seen in Real Estate & Investment Middle East July issue.

Picture courtesy Omniyat Properties illustrating the retail space in one of the projects to watch - the Gemini in Business Bay.

Dubailand - every SimCity fan's wet dream?

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is often quoted for saying that he has so far only realised 10% of his vision for Dubai.


With Dubailand he must have leapfrogged towards the fulfillment of his dreams!

I recently visited the site and sales centre and was stunned by the magnitude of the project. When realised, this will no doubt be a serious contender in the race for this century's man-made wonders of the world!

Dubailand is built on a 3 billion square feet area about 20 min drive from Dubai. Literally it will become a new Dubai.

Conveniently located close to the new Dubai International Airport, which rumors say will be equal to Chicago O'Hare and London Heathrow in size, the mega-project is the worlds biggest and most ambitious leisure and tourism destination.

City of Arabia is a 2 billion dollar project literally creating a new major suburb of Dubai. It will, when completed, provide homes for over 35,000 residents, and include Mall of Arabia, eventuelly the largest mall in the world spread over 10 million square feet.

Other key features in City of Arabia is Restless Planet, a dinosaur-themed park being developed in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of London, and Wadi Walk Shopping & Entertainment Centre, low-rise Mediterranean style apartment-houses with a canal flowing between an boutique shopping and various entertainment.

Investors from abroad would like to know that this completely new city is expected to be purely freehold!

Dubai Sports City is expected to become the region's premier sporting venue featuring 4 giant-sized stadiums, an Erni Els Championship Golf Course and a Manchester United Soccer School, and several other delicacies.


Everybody who have visited Dubai in recent years have either visited or heard of Emirates Malls with the first skiing slope ever built in the desert! As if this wasn't enough, the ambitious developers of Dubailand have planned Dubai Snowdome which with its more than 200m diameter and 70m height will be the largest free-standing see-through dome structure in the world.


Easy to see the symbolism in that the sales centre of Dubailand has got two real tigers walking around in the courtyard - as if to send a strong message to the world that this century's tiger economy is not to be found in Asia!

Visitors of Dubailand will undoubtly be split between those who consider it the result of a megalomanic developer going berzerk or the most magnificent city-project in recent times - this wet dream of every true SimCity fan.

Omniyat dismisses Dubai property bubble

The demand for homes and offices in Dubai will continue to exceed supply in the coming years, a leading UAE-developer said on Wednesday, the latest to dismiss theories of a bubble in the emirate’s real estate market.

Mehdi Amjad, president and chief executive of Omniyat Holdings and Omniyat Properties, said in this article the imbalance between supply and demand in Dubai's buoyant real estate market is expected to continue well into the next decade.

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 95

The distance measured in kilometres from where the tip of the spire on Burj Dubai can be seen with the naked eye.



Last week the Burj became the tallest building in the world at 141 floors, 512.1m, 1680 feet.

Nakheel sells Greece on The World

From ArabianBusiness.com: Nakheel has sold the island of Greece in its manmade archipelago The World, it announced today.

A spokesperson for the Dubai-based developer told ArabianBusiness.com the island was sold on Tuesday for $15.5 million, but would not reveal details of the buyer.

However, the spokesperson could confirm the owner is not notorious US rocker Tommy Lee, who said in May he wanted to buy the island for ex-wife and former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.

According to Wikipedia, The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of a world map currently being built off the coast of Dubai.

Each island ranges from 23,000 m² to 84,000 m² in size, with 50–100 m of water between each island. The development will cover an area of 9 km in length and 6 km in width, surrounded by an oval breakwater. The only means of transport between the islands will be by boat and helicopter.

Prices for the islands will range from $15-45 million. The average price for an island will be around $25 million. Dredging started in 2004 and The World is now around 95% complete.

According to the National Geographic Channel (The Best of Megastructures) the overall price for the World is $14 Billion US Dollars.

It is owned and is being constructed by Nakheel.

Developers react positively to new realty authority

Gulfnews.com: Several more leading Dubai-based developers have reacted positively to this week's launch of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), a subsidiary of Dubai Land Department that will regulate the property sector.
Read the full article here.

Real Estate in Numbers

THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 1.5 trillion

In the latest version of Desert Invest's news letter, it is mentioned that the combined value of Middle East construction projects has reached 1 trillion dollars. This is too modest according to this article. Here, the value is claimed to reach 1.5 trillion. That is 1,500,000,000,000,000,000 American dollars!

A guide for real estate investors and property seekers in Qatar

If you're looking for an investment opportunity in Qatar or you just want to buy or lease a property, we believe that the facts rendered in the this Q & A constitute a helpful guide for investors, developers and end-users alike. By Real Estate & Investment Middle East Magazine.

UAE: Fortune Group unveils its 5th project in Business Bay

Fortune Group, one of the leading real estate majors in Dubai's freehold space today unveiled a new commercial tower - its 5th project in Business Bay - AED 400 Million Fortune Pearl, which will offer 300,000 square feet of office space in modern ambience complete with dedicated retail and recreational areas.

Fortune Pearl boasts of hi-tech office concepts along with a range of luxury offerings which will include, advanced communication facilities, state-of-the art conferencing systems, broadband internet connection, comprehensive business support services, a well appointed venue for conferences and meetings, a swimming pool and all modern amenities.

Investors flock to Reef island Project in Bahrain

"Following the inauguration of its first phase, Reef Island Project, owned by the real estate development leader Lulu Tourism, is attracting unprecedented interest from various property investors and companies."

Zawya had the story from Bahrain Tribune.

New GCC real estate index launched

Al Mazaya Holding Co., a Kuwaiti shareholding company working in real estate developments, has launched a new real estate index for the GCC region. It has got a number of indexes on prices, values and volume plus includes a section with news provided by Zawya.

The usual issue with index like these is that while they provide some level of insight in the historical development, they obviously don't give much prediction of where the future gold mines will appear....

Bin Laden's $20bn bridge venture

According to this article in Arabianbusiness.com, A member of the Bin Laden family is looking to build a 17-mile bridge linking Yemen and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa in a bid to connect the Middle East and Africa.

The Road to Riches

BusinessToday, a leading business magazine from Oman, recently ran a cover story about the real estate market in Oman.

Says Said al Busaidy, general manager, Eamaar Real Estate, “With Oman developing horizontally, there is no risk of prices (or rents) coming down. Prices will come under pressure only if vertical development (buildings with more than six floors) is allowed.”

Hamptons: Acute lack of commercial space in Muscat!

Just spent a couple of days in Oman catching up on the latest news. The real estate sector in Oman is still rather small and immature when it comes to freehold or leasehold opportunities but the good news is that it is not as overrun as the market in Dubai so it is possible to make a really good investment.

The most well known of the freehold projects is without a doubt The Wave - which I made a few lines on some time ago.

In fourth quarter this year the sale of apartment complexes will begin so those who are in for an attractive investment should prepare themselves. The developers will not allow really big scale bulk purchases like whole apartment blocks, but speaking with the management I learned that smaller scale investments - e.g. a handful of apartments - can be accepted.

Another freehold project also already launched is the Muscat Golf and Country Club while two projects are in the pipeline - The Blue City and Salam Resort and Spa at Yiti Beach.

On July 17 2007 one of the Sultanate's leading newspapers, Oman Daily Observer, ran a story about the growth in the real estate sector in Oman. Quoting Christopher Steel, General Manager of Hamptons International, the daily could report that the property market in Oman is in a period of sustained growth. "The year will see on average a 10-12 percent value increase for the residential sector", the GM said.

The company compiled a list of monthly rental prices for different sized residential properties in various areas including the growth over the last 12 months. This showed that in popular areas as Qurum, Medinat Al Ilam and MQ prices soared 40-50 percent over the last year. Being a property owner in one of these areas you can now get up to 2,500 Omani Rials (approximately 6,500 USD) per month for a 3- or 4-bedroom apartment or villa if you rent it out.

Mr. Steel also emphasized the acute lack of commercial space throughout the capital area Muscat saying that the they expected even greater returns from the commercial market than from residential in the future.

So Oman - and especially the market for office buildings in the Capital - certainly looks like being an area worth keeping a very close eye on...

Is the office market in Bahrain the next star?

When looking for a good real estate investment in the Gulf one might want to consider buying an office to let in Bahrain.

When buying, you can easily end up paying 50% more per square meter for an office of equal quality and location in Dubai compared to Bahrain. But then again, the rents are also equally higher in the busy Emirate.

However, while the favorite topic in the regional real estate news currently is whether or not the market is witnessing a Dubai bubble about to burst, there seems to be general consensus that Bahrain has only just embarked on the journey. And - maybe even more important from a risk perspective - is growing at a slightly more controlled pace.

In other words, one might speculate if buying an office to let in Bahrain is providing a good balance between risk and sustainable return.

It is a fact that there is considerable under supply of good office meters in Bahrain. Obviously the fact that it is mandatory when establishing a company in Bahrain to have a lease agreement in a building approved by the municipality for commercial use, helps stimulating the demand.

But also the economy’s high growth rate and the modernization of the legislative and administrative framework for doing business in and with the Kingdom is attracting a high number of foreign companies to set up shop every month. One obvious example is the financial sector where nearly 400 financial institutions from abroad have been licensed and established in Bahrain.

And there is no reason to think that this development shouldn’t continue for the years to come.
Currently a quality office meter in a good location in Bahrain could be found at 2,500 USD, and with a rent on the good side of 350 USD per year a nice yield is in sight.

The only problem seems to be that a limited number of large scale prestige developments are announced, with Bahrain Financial Harbor as the prime example of one such flagship project. While this is obviously good from the point of view that it helps keeping up the yield, the flip side of that coin is that it will require some help from someone on the ground with a good feeling for what’s hot and what’s not if investors from abroad want to seize this opportunity.

But then again - being able to spot the good opportunities before they become too well known in the market, isn’t that what making a good investment is all about…..

Surf’s up in Oman’s most famous project

One of the most famous development projects in Oman is The Wave. The project has earned its reputation from a number reasons. For one it is the first large-scale freehold property project in the Sultanate. Secondly, the beach front development has a unique location just outside the capital Muscat 10 minutes from Oman’s international airport - which by the way is undergoing a major upgrading these years to cater for an expected massive influx of tourists and business travellers in the future - and less than four hours by car from Dubai.

The first phase of the project was offered for sale to the public in 2005 and this and subsequent phases have been sold out hours after the opening. People had to queue up by midnight on the night before the gates opened to the sales centre if they wanted to have a chance of being one of the lucky ones to move into their new villa or townhouse when The Wave finishes in 2008.

The apartments yet have to be released for sale which is expected to happen by the end of 2007. So watch this space….!

Welcome to the Gulf Real Estate blog!

Welcome to Gulf Estate Update - the weblog with news, updates, rumors, gossip and hopefully useful information about the real estate sector in the Gulf. I hope this will become a valuable point of reference for those interested in this area.

I would like to invite readers to provide their comments, viewpoints and suggestions, so that the content can reflect as diverse a selection of opinions as there are drivers behind having an interest in this topic.

However, I do of course retain the right to edit comments if deemed inappropriate by me. ;-)

Kind regards,
Niklas Nielsen