- Title: UAE-CITYSCAPE GLOBAL Cityscape property fair opens in Dubai
- Date: 22nd September 2014
- Summary: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (SEPTEMBER 21, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE VISITING CITYSCAPE SHOW VARIOUS OF MODELS OF PROPERTIES DISPLAYED AT THE SHOW VARIOUS OF VISITORS LOOKING AT MODELS MODEL BEING LIT UP VARIOUS OF VISITORS LOOKING AT DISPLAYED PROJECTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CEO DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING AT TECOM INVESTMENT, BADR AL-GARGAWI, SAYING: "The exhibition will witness the launch of several projects in the Emirate of Dubai by many developers. We hope that this will be a good new start for the property sector in the city of Dubai." VISITORS AT THE EXHIBITION VARIOUS OF ILLUMINATED MODEL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CHAIRMAN OF FALCON CITY DEVELOPER, SALEM AL-MUSA SAYING: "Regarding the property market in the UAE, it is currently one of the largest in the world and it has all the elements for individual and joint investments as well as for public companies." VARIOUS OF VISITORS LOOKING AT MODELS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NAKHEEL DEVELOPMENT, MOHAMMED RASHED, SAYING: "The Cityscape exhibition is a good opportunity for us at Nakheel to present a few of our recent projects and also to meet with many our current clients and our future clients." VARIOUS OF VISITORS LOOKING AT MODELS OF FUTURE PROJECTS VISITORS WALKING THROUGH EXHIBITION HALLS
- Embargoed: 7th October 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Arab Emirates
- Country: United Arab Emirates
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3SER7YXJUSVNUAB0VQIGJXBTG
- Story Text: Hundreds of visitors flocked to Dubai's Cityscape Global property fair on Sunday (September 21), the largest real estate exhibition in the region.
Around 280 exhibitors are participating in this year's event, showcasing their latest projects.
But as the fair began, industry data released on the same day showed Dubai's booming property market was showing signs that it may be cooling off, after two years of soaring prices that had drawn warnings of possible overheating from the International Monetary Fund.
Property price rises, at close to 30 percent year-on-year, had been among the highest in the world throughout 2013 and the first part of 2014, causing many - including the United Arab Emirates central bank - to fear a repeat of the local market crash of 2008-9, which saw prices slump more than 50 percent.
One participant at the Cityscape fair said he hoped the event would be good for the local property sector.
"The exhibition will witness the launch of several projects in the Emirate of Dubai by many developers. We hope that this will be a good new start for the property sector in the city of Dubai," said Badr al-Gargawi, the CEO of development and planning at TECOM investment.
Sunday's property data is the first to suggest that the Dubai real estate market might by cooling off after soaring since 2012, and will be used by the authorities in the emirate as evidence that measures taken to prevent speculation driving up prices are beginning to make an impact.
Dubai's Land Department doubled last year the fee it charges on property transactions to four percent, while new lending limits on mortgages were introduced by the UAE central bank.
Despite the new data, exhibitors at the property fair were upbeat.
"Regarding the property market in the UAE, it is currently one of the largest in the world and it has all the elements for individual and joint investments as well as for public companies," said the chairman of Falcon City Developer, Salem al-Musa.
The government fueled the latest property boom when it announced plans, in November 2012, for a huge development including the world's largest shopping mall, over 100 hotels and a park almost a third larger than London's Hyde Park.
Meanwhile, most of the more than 200 man-made islands off Dubai laid out in the shape of a world map that symbolised the 2008 property market crash remain empty after state-owned developer Nakheel's near debt default in 2009.
Nakheel was one of the worst-hit firms by Dubai's property crash and subsequent debt crisis at many state-owned firms at the end of the last decade, with the company requiring a multi-billion-dollar debt restructuring.
But now, with renewed confidence in the market, Nakheel is also showcasing its latest work.
"The Cityscape exhibition is a good opportunity for us at Nakheel to present a few of our recent projects and also to meet with many our current clients and our future clients," said the company's managing director, Mohammed Rashed.
A return to the full excesses of the pre-2008 boom still looks unlikely. The crash cleared some second-tier developers out of the market, and the companies that remain still bear the balance sheet scars of the last crash, encouraging them to be more cautious.
There are also signs that developers are paying more attention to their rivals' plans and implementing projects only in stages, proceeding with each one after reevaluating the demand outlook.
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