Dubai - Rapid Collapse

[Frank Hovis]

In the Live magazine of the MoS though not yet up on the website.

It just sounds like chaos. The worst description is of the houses on the palm island (the one they've actually finished).

Tiles falling off, builders dust everywhere, dirty dusty empty and polluted. You just wouldn't want to live in this "paradise" for free.

Plus journalists get banned and fined $100k for writing stories about the recession.

Headline is 70% price drops, but this one bit of real estate about to join the 90% club.

Now if somebody can dig out the link of that bloke who bought "Britain" in the world map island.

[ImA20SomethingGetMeOutOfHere]

In the Live magazine of the MoS though not yet up on the website.

It just sounds like chaos. The worst description is of the houses on the palm island (the one they've actually finished).

Tiles falling off, builders dust everywhere, dirty dusty empty and polluted. You just wouldn't want to live in this "paradise" for free.

Plus journalists get banned and fined $100k for writing stories about the recession.

Headline is 70% price drops, but this one bit of real estate about to join the 90% club.

Now if somebody can dig out the link of that bloke who bought "Britain" in the world map island.

90% off sounds almos tempting. You can get some good teaching jobs out there too. Maybe I could live next door to the Beckhams...

[CokeSnortingTory]

I think most of the "development" in Dubai is going to end up having a negative value - i.e. a liability.

It's only future will be as a location for the filming of J.G. Ballard novels.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...London-pub.html

Like many expatriates, Safi Qurashi misses home.

But now the Dubai-based shopkeeper’s son from South London has solved the problem. He has bought Great Britain.

Mr Qurashi, 39, has paid £43 million for the Britain-shaped island in The World,

a man-made archipelago off the coast of Dubai, where each piece of land represents a different country, state or city.

A mere £43m what a bargain that is. So it's now worth £4.3m?

[Frank Hovis]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...London-pub.html

A mere £43m what a bargain that is. So it's now worth £4.3m?

Ta for finding.

Maybe a 90% drop was optimistic. £4.3m for a collapsing 11 acre pile of dredged sand still sounds ridiculously overvalued.

How about nothing?

[kudukid]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...London-pub.html

A mere £43m what a bargain that is. So it's now worth £4.3m?

43 Million quid for a few rocks under the sea with sand on top.

What was he thinking?

[interestrateripoff]

43 Million quid for a few rocks under the sea with sand on top.

What was he thinking?

Property only ever goes up?

[kudukid]

Property only ever goes up?

I remember seeing a documentary about the syndicate buying "Ireland" they were planning on making it as green as the emerald isle, installing desalination plants to keep the grass alive.

Looking back it seems to have been the epitome of this crazy era.

Mad!!!

[R K]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...London-pub.html

A mere £43m what a bargain that is. So it's now worth £4.3m?

Hmmm......it appears he was actually part of the pumping operation on behalf of Skeikh Al Maktoum.

http://www.ameinfo.com/156497.html

The appointment of Waldy Real Estate and Premier Real Estate (Safi Qurashi) to support the management of the Group's portfolio of local and international investors will enable both companies to utilize their expertise to develop investor portfolios with balanced income and capital appreciation for the Group's select high net-worth clientele.

Smoke and mirrors.............

[Frank Hovis]

Quick, buy in now before it sinks:

http://www.prebdubai.com/theworld.htm

MOSCOW ON THE WORLD

Currently in planning stage, Premier are creating a luxury hub for The World, attuned to the tastes and lifestyle of Russia's wealthiest residents. Contemporary architecture, luxe-brand retail and five-star leisure facilities will establish Moscow as 'the place to be and be seen' in The World.

Details to follow

GREAT BRITAIN ON THE WORLD

Possibly the most prestigious property on The World archipelago, the island of Great Britain is perfectly positioned in the centre of the development to offer residents and visitors the very best of British in the eternal sunshine. Premier are currently working with leading designers BA Architects to develop unique plans for the development of this iconic isle.

Details to follow

[dryrot]

Property only ever goes up?

"They're not making any more of it."

- er, hang on

[Bloo Loo]

dust and sand in your house...in the desert....who'da thunkit

[crash2006]

People their are leaving their cars in the airport with the keys in and getting a plane home leaving large debts and forgeting about them.

[Tonkers]

GREAT BRITAIN ON THE WORLD

Possibly the most prestigious property on The World archipelago, the island of Great Britain is perfectly positioned in the centre of the development to offer residents and visitors the very best of British in the eternal sunshine. Premier are currently working with leading designers BA Architects to develop unique plans for the development of this iconic isle.

Details to follow[/i]

Ha, theme pubs, chippys, deserted high streets.

[CokeSnortingTory]

But maybe Dubai was all a scam from the very start?

The sheikhs, realising that they couldn't exist forever on declining oil revenues, knocked up a lot of tasteless, jerry-built tat in configurations that lent themselves to hype, using third-world labour that they refused to pay, and then sold them to gullible aspirationalists from around the world.

I wonder when all this cr@p has been demolished or returned to the desert whether the Emiratis will actually have made a profit on it? Was it planned obsolescence from the very start?

[Tonkers]

But maybe Dubai was all a scam from the very start?

The sheikhs, realising that they couldn't exist forever on declining oil revenues, knocked up a lot of tasteless, jerry-built tat in configurations that lent themselves to hype, using third-world labour that they refused to pay, and then sold them to gullible aspirationalists from around the world.

I wonder when all this cr@p has been demolished or returned to the desert whether the Emiratis will actually have made a profit on it? Was it planned obsolescence from the very start?

I am reading a book called MacMafia, and it indicates to me that many if not all of these initial property deals were all to do with money laundering. Then Joe Bloggs got sucked in. It also mentions that while the Sheik said that he would allow foriegners to own freeholds, that this may not have been placed in the law books. Have not found more info on that. Could they simply take your property and chuck you out?

Edited July 26, 2009 by Tonkers

[Giordano Bruno]

For Dubai watchers, here is a link to a good article, imo, albiet from April 17, 2009.

Quote: "The thing you have to understand about Dubai is -- nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing -- a modern kind of place -- but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."

http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com/...i-collapse.html

[6538]

For Dubai watchers, here is a link to a good article, imo, albiet from April 17, 2009.

Quote: "The thing you have to understand about Dubai is -- nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing -- a modern kind of place -- but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."

http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com/...i-collapse.html

Knew a guy years ago who had something to do, business-wise, with Arab countries. He said that before you agreed to start work you had to get your money (or a large part of it) and put it out of the Country because you wouldn't get paid otherwise.

He also reckoned that they didn't have a word for "lie" but I don't know how true that is.

[OnionTerror]

People their are leaving their cars in the airport with the keys in and getting a plane home leaving large debts and forgeting about them.

Apparently, people are going to prison for defaulting on credit card payments, whereas over here, people are just made bankrupt. Those that do a runner on debts can be extradited. Dubai is in complete free fall, with, something like £500bn worth of building projects effectively "canceled" - although it never would be admitted as such. They also reckon that the population of Dubai will shrink by 17% this year, with 1500 visas a day being annulled.

[Little Professor]

Also in tomorrow's Times:

Dubai expatriates unable to meet liabilities

Up to one quarter of all the cheques written in Dubai may be bouncing as expatriate residents in the Gulf state struggle as the economy slows.

Blank cheques are used to underwrite financial arrangements, such as credit cards, in Dubai, guaranteeing future payments such as a rental agreement or bank loan.

This system arose in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which includes Dubai, because of the difficulty of doing credit checks on foreign workers. As many of these workers have now lost their jobs in the recession, the number of bounced cheques has risen.

The penalty for failing to honour a cheque is severe and some people have ended up in jail. Dubai’s police chief said this year that about one fifth of all prisoners in the emirate were there because of bounced cheques. Most of these are likely to be foreign workers.

As many as one in four cheques could be bouncing, according to Ghanem Nuseibeh, senior analyst at Political Capital, a consultancy firm. His estimate is based on data from local banks and figures for departing expats. Cheques are a fundamental part of the Dubai financial system — Mr Nuseibeh, for example, wrote 70 cheques to cover payments for his car.

RAK Bank, which operates in Dubai but is based in neighbouring Ras Al Khaimah, has said that 2,500 of its expatriate customers were leaving every month with unpaid credit card bills. These individuals were also likely to be leaving behind bouncing cheques for accommodation and cars.

During Dubai’s boom years, expatriates from around the world took advantage of cheap credit and a booming economy to live a luxury lifestyle. Easy credit arrangements meant that they could buy penthouses, motorboats and expensive cars with little or no scrutiny from lenders. When the economy slowed, many foreign workers lost their jobs or had their salaries cut and became unable to keep up with their payments.

Some abandoned their luxury cars at Dubai airport as they fled their debts and possible imprisonment. Some have been jailed while others have struggled to stay in Dubai.

“Many of the British expatriates in particular tried to hang on as long as possible to life there and sadly many have ended up writing bounced cheques, having their passports confiscated so they cannot leave the country and really living in appalling conditions in bedsits shared with maids, or even in cars parked in car parks,†Mr Nuseibeh said.

About 10 per cent of expatriates in the UAE have lost their jobs, according to a Yougov survey this month. This does not include the large number of construction and blue-collar workers who have also had their contracts cancelled.

The large number of redundancies has led many to forecast that the population of the UAE — and Dubai in particular — could shrink this year, partly because visas are revoked 30 days after leaving a job, prompting many foreign workers to leave.

UBS, the Swiss bank, has estimated that Dubai’s population of 1.5 million could fall by 8 per cent this year while Political Capital estimates the decline could be between 14 per cent and 28 per cent.

The UAE economy grew rapidly in recent years, driven by high oil prices and Dubai’s construction and tourism boom. Economic growth is now expected to fall to minus 1.4 per cent this year before recovering to 4.1 per cent next year.

Many of the large construction projects in Dubai have stopped as a result of the downturn. House prices and rents have reportedly fallen by about 40 per cent.

[Mrs Bear]

I remember seeing a documentary about the syndicate buying "Ireland" they were planning on making it as green as the emerald isle, installing desalination plants to keep the grass alive.

Looking back it seems to have been the epitome of this crazy era.

Mad!!!

Er, maybe not. One 'designer' Dubai development (Armani or Versace) I read about perhaps a year ago, was planning to

refrigerate the beach, like underfloor heating in reverse.

As anyone familiar with the UAE will know, you literally cannot walk on the sand in the height of summer.

Haven't seen anything yet about refrigerating the sea, though which is like hot soup in summer, often with trillions of fish eggs or minute baby jellyfish thrown in.)

[mpprh]

Apparently, people are going to prison for defaulting on credit card payments, whereas over here, people are just made bankrupt.

Shurely shome mishtake ?

Should read :

Apparently, people are going to prison for defaulting on credit card payments, whereas over here, people are given more credit to pay off their previous card balances.

Peter

When I say "over here", I talk of UK. Credit cards, as known in UK, are quite rare in other parts of Europe.

Peter

[Steppenpig]

What I like about Dubai is that on the news/documentary channels you can watch alternate "8th wonder of the world" or "property bubble armageddon" as you prefer.

Saw a report on tv a couple of weeks ago. Apparently algae is growing in the immobile water between the fronds. I must have seen this development half a dozen times on tv in the last few years, but there never seem to be any people living there. An estate agent said david beckham has never been seen there. I think that's about as close an admission as we're going to get that it was a myth made up by the marketing department. Also the beach described as "the best beach in Dubai" looked about as attractive as a car park, and again, no people visible. The only people in Dubai seem to be in the air-conditioned shopping malls. Might as well be in Milton Keynes.

[kingsgate]

Er, maybe not. One 'designer' Dubai development (Armani or Versace) I read about perhaps a year ago, was planning to

refrigerate the beach, like underfloor heating in reverse.

As anyone familiar with the UAE will know, you literally cannot walk on the sand in the height of summer.

Haven't seen anything yet about refrigerating the sea, though which is like hot soup in summer, often with trillions of fish eggs or minute baby jellyfish thrown in.)

And pools of stinking sewage. Don't forget the untreated sewage. Makes the bathing experience extra-lovely!