Rents on property in Dubai, have fallen by up to 50%, with between 10 and 30% being the average, and even those on Palm Jumeirah have fallen by around a third. According to many analysts, though, whilst 2009 was the year of the fall, 2010 will be a stabilising year, and 2011 will be the year when the real recovery will happen.
But will it be that easy? Will all of the foreign buyers return; will all of the cancelled developments completed; will the global marketplace forget that there was ever a problem with Dubai? Well, possibly, if a few attitudes change.
Many outside of Dubai feel that the emirate is too focused on having the biggest and best of everything. So whilst the marketing people concentrate their efforts on individual developments and properties, they completely forget to sell Dubai as a destination. Selling Dubai purely as a location for foreign investment is a recipe for disaster. Indeed, we have seen the consequences of such a strategy.
A high percentage of onlookers from the rest of the world now see Dubai simply as a Middle Eastern Las Vegas – bright lights and just a little bit false; and that’s not good, particularly as it has so much more to offer. So surely the time is now right to start promoting the emirate as a stylish, often luxurious, but still Arabic experience, where visitors can explore a new culture that offers genuine escapism from the stresses and strains of most ‘western’ countries.
Both investors and visitors are increasingly looking for something different; something unique to the Gulf. Failure to recognise this could put back recovery for some considerable time.
Rod Millington
Editor
