Ethos83

This got circulated around the office today:

http://www.ameinfo.com/234456.html

Looks like we may have an oversupply of 110-120,000 residential units in Dubai by the end of 2012.

I say: bring 'em on. I look forward to the day when I can get a two-bed apartment in Dubai Marina for under 50,000 a year (before you naysayers jump on my case, 3600 AED/month is a decent rent for a decent two-bed in a decent part of town in a midsize city in the US).

But I foresee two big problems on the horizon for us renters:

1. landlord defaults on his mortgage payments whilst you are living in the apartment.

What happens to you if he defaults a month into a year's lease and you already paid the entire year's rent upfront?

2. landlord fails to pay maintenance fees and the building cuts you off from use of facilities and parking space.

What other problems do you think can arise from living in a city glutted with empty apartments and villas?

Robbies

I'm not getting into the debate of investor v non-investor, but where does the 110-120k come from? Many reports say that realestate sector is dead and everything on hold, cancelled or delayed many years. If this is the case, then where do the 110k-120k come from? This would signal things are not on hold or cancelled?

spartans53

Think the number is the ones that were under construction when the bust came. These have mostly been completed.

Mike

Ethos83

Correct. Next time you go to Barasti, take a good look at all the towers directly across the street from it. Eight 40+ towers are still under construction, and that's just that little square location.

hnd

Guess it all depends on whether people bought as an 'in'vestor or an 'in'habitant (is there such a word?) and through which developer the property was bought.

We took a leap of faith in 2003 and bought a freehold property off-plan (well before the freehold laws were enacted). At the peak our property would have sold for something approaching 6x what we paid. Even now it seems it would sell for something like 3x what we paid.

Are we unhappy we didn't sell at the top of the market? No. It's our home. But we're in the process of buying another 'off-plan' home in Muscat (no, not Blue City) because we know the way of life will suit us better there. And with the way things are going, in sh'Allah, price-wise, it will be a swap.