Health tourism is known to be one of the fastest growing segments in international tourism. This is where people from developed countries travel to other countries to seek medical care. Most commonly this is people travelling to a country where cosmetic surgery is cheaper and therefore more affordable for them, but there are also growing numbers of wealthy people from poorer countries travelling abroad for better medical care, especially for essential treatments.
The La Hoya Bay saga continues… For those who do not know: La Hoya Bay is a luxury resort development on the United Arab Emirate of Ras al Khaimah, that started in November 2007 but has yet to be started. Let me rephrase that, ground was broken in La Hoya Bay in November 2007, but a brick has yet to be laid towards building the development proper. All we have is the foundations, a show-flat, rumours, accusations, counter-accusations, controversy and a developer in jail for bouncing a cheque.
What’s going on here? In all honesty it doesn’t seem that anyone has the full answer to that question. All we know is that the developers Khoie Group agreed to buy the land for the development from the Ras al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) in early 2007 for Dh306 million ($83m), but paid only Dh72million ($20m) up front, with post-dated cheques in 6 month instalments for the rest. Off plan sales began shortly after the DH72 million ($20m) payment was complete. Ground was broken in November 2007.
Things went great for the first few months, with investors on the Sky Scraper City forum genuinely pleased at having bought into such a great opportunity, see here with pics showing it as the first RAK development to complete piling, and (if you follow that link into the forum and forward a few pages) that construction was going at a snails pace).
The Global Financial Crisis may have devastated real estate prices in Dubai, causing a 48% fall just this last year, as well as causing serious drops in other countries, but one place that is seeing increased prices is Lebanon.
Doha’s City Centre is soon to be graced with two new luxury hotels. The five star hotel operators Marriott and Shangri-La are both set to open their doors shortly, respectively next year as being part of the new City Center building in Qatar’s capital Doha.
In total there will be five luxury hotels. Two of which will be adjacent to the east side of the shopping mall – the Marriott Courtyard and the Renaissance Hotel. The other three will be situated on the west side including the two Marriott hotels – the Doha Shangri-La, the Doha Rotana Hotel and a new Merweb.
Moves by the Dubai government to inspire confidence in the once booming property market seem to have backfired.
The recession has shown that Dubai’s growth was financed by billions of pounds of debt and this burden is threatening to drag the city under the desert sands.
Several government-backed developers were at the forefront of major residential and commercial buildings in Dubai.
Shares in the largest listed Arab developer Emaar Property had 10% wiped off their price on announcement of the merger with Dubai Properties, Sama Dubai and Tatweer.
These three companies are all subsidiaries of Dubai Holdings, which has the backing of the Dubai royal family and analysts fear in the background assets are just being shuffled on paper to shore up ailing companies.
Real estate prices in the United Arabian Emirates are now back to a similar level as they were in 2006. Propertyfinder.ae is an UAE based online real estate portal and according to their latest comparison of the Emirates top locations they came to this conclusion.
Bahrain has long been the forgotten little brother of glittery Dubai in the housing investment industry. For years we have been told countless stories on why we had to buy property in Dubai and all the while Bahrain has quietly sneaked up in the housing stakes.
Ras al Khaimah also known as RAK was the second emirate after Dubai to allow foreign property ownership . his means that even non GCC citizens can buy a freehold property and call it their own. When the first sign of trouble surfaced in Dubai last year many expats were forced to look elsewhere as landlords raised their rent. Some of these raises were massive (around $16,000 for a two-bedroom home).
Qatar is a quiet achiever in property development. This independent Arab state is located at the heart of the Arabian Gulf and close enough to the neighbouring countries of Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the emirates of the UAE.
Garden Heights is part of Qatar’s biggest domestic development to date and incorporates modern design and urban living to compliment a lifestyle that will be the ultimate in living experience for some 200,000 people.
The development is situated in Lusail. Lusail will eventually be a high end district for community friendly living with landscaped designs, safe pedestrian walkways, a nearby golf course and close enough to the Gulf to allow for a seaside lifestyle.
Prestigious Esskay Executives in New Ajman in the UAE was long awaited when it was launched in November 2008. This visionary concept to transfer the existing skyscraper concept of the Arabian Emirate has certainly raised interest levels for investors worldwide.
Esskay Executive is in pre-launch period with heavily discounted pre-launch prices right now giving buyers first pick on the best apartments in this 58-storey tower also dubbed “the rising of an icon”.
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