The 50 Billion Dirham lending facility created by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates last week helped ease concerns over short term liquidity issues in the Dubai real estate markets but it has not been able to stem the concerns over slowing development going forward. Local media outlets have recently begun to feature bearish sentiment from developers like Mohammed Nimer from the Moafaq Al Gaddah property development department, while bank analyst estimates for property value declines range from 5 to 15% in the near term.
The declining share price of local construction and development firms are only the most visible manifestation of the cooling pace of new building starts –from scrap prices in the US driven by Gulf rebar demand to worker remittances critical to the Philippine economy, the massive Dubai construction boom of the past decade has truly been a global phenomenon. Though UAE leaders are anxious to project the image of an economy insulated from global turmoil by the flowing torrent of petrodollars, stock investors enriched by that same oil money have begun taking their chips off the table.
Andrew Barber
Director
The declining share price of local construction and development firms are only the most visible manifestation of the cooling pace of new building starts –from scrap prices in the US driven by Gulf rebar demand to worker remittances critical to the Philippine economy, the massive Dubai construction boom of the past decade has truly been a global phenomenon. Though UAE leaders are anxious to project the image of an economy insulated from global turmoil by the flowing torrent of petrodollars, stock investors enriched by that same oil money have begun taking their chips off the table.
Andrew Barber
Director
