DUBAI, United Arab Emirates There is no stronger belief in the saying, “If you build it, they will come” than in Dubai.

Because it has the smallest oil holdings of the seven United Arab Emirates, Dubai has chosen to diversify by building itself into a tourist and trading mecca. In the past decade, development has exploded, from the ultra-luxury Burj Al Arab hotel to business zones like Dubai Media City and attractions bordering on the surreal, like Ski Dubai, an indoor ski slope 400 meters, or 1,300 feet, long.

Now, on the emirate’s last remaining undeveloped land fronting the Gulf, the government is building a city called Dubai Waterfront. At the moment, it is a vacant beachfront dotted with cranes. When it is finished, it will be a self-contained community larger than Manhattan, with housing for 700,000 people.

“People think it is a dream, but people are wrong,” said Khaled Issa Al Huraimel, general manager of the project for the developer Nakheel. “What we start here, we finish.”

Dubai’s population of 1.2 million is projected to grow to 4 million by 2020, and tourist arrivals are expected to grow to 22 million a year from 8 million. “At the moment, we don’t have the capacity to handle that,” Huraimel said.

Planning for the new city began in 2002, and a master plan was developed last year with the New York architectural firm Gruzen Samton. Development of the infrastructure has begun, and the entire city is expected to rise from the sand - and the water, on a series of artificial islands - over the next 10 years.

When it is finished, the city will form a giant crescent arching around The Palm, a palm- tree-shaped island resort and residential project so big it is visible from space. The city will comprise five major sections, with the centerpiece being the Madinat Al Arab, a city center with businesses, shopping and one of the world’s tallest buildings, Al Burj.

Huraimel said Al Burj might end up being the tallest building in the world - it will be competing with the Burj Dubai, a mixed-use building already under construction.

The planned heights of both buildings have not been disclosed.

“We won’t know until they are finished which one will be taller, but we do know that the two tallest buildings in the world will be in Dubai,” Huraimel said. (The world’s tallest building now is Taipei 101 on Taiwan, at 509 meters.)

Dubai Waterfront will have 12 kilometers, or 7.5 miles, of natural beachfront, 10 kilometers of canals and a harbor two kilometers wide. There will be 10 mixed-use zones, ranging from residential areas to commercial and retail space, resorts and areas for schools and recreation. As many as 200 hotels are planned.

“It’s a blending of a city into communities,”‘ said Jordan Gruzen, a partner at Gruzen Samton.

The residential zones will include housing aimed at middle-income brackets as well as luxury homes, Huraimel said. “We do have to protect the lower-income levels,” he said.

Luxury sales in the emirate have declined in recent months, with some real estate specialists saying prices had reached unsustainable levels.

In the first phase of the project, Dubai Waterfront Co., a division of Nakheel, is spending about $4 billion on the infrastructure of the new city, including roads, a sewer system, desalination plants to ensure the water supply, electricity and a light rail system. Huraimel said the value of the land alone, before any improvements, was $30 billion.

Once that work is done, private developers will be sold individual plots in the city, of which 70 percent will be residential and 30 percent commercial. The first sites, prime areas along the downtown beachfront zoned for residential and resort purposes, sold for $13 million in 48 hours in December. More will be sold this year.

The new city will be an equidistant 35 kilometers from the existing Dubai city center and Abu Dhabi, and just a few kilometers from the new Jebel Ali airport, which, with six runways, will be the largest in the world.

Huraimel was confident that Dubai would attract the business and residents to make the city work. “In 15 years, the perception of the Middle East will change,” he said. “We are a modern, diverse society in Dubai. The city is safe, there are no taxes, the weather is perfect for at least nine months out of the year.”

Also, in March the emirate said it would allow foreigners limited freehold ownership and formal 99-year leases, just one of the property law changes being made across the UAE to attract investment.

But Huraimel conceded that Dubai had a big job to do in overcoming the West’s negative image of Arab countries. “Some have said that Islam and the West is a clash of civilizations,” he said. “Dubai is like a city of dreams. This is not a clash of civilizations. This is the opposite.”

Gruzen and his team are already convinced.

“Dubai has absolutely amazed us,” said Joe Navarro, another senior associate at the New York firm. “Each time we go there’s a higher degree of confidence. This isn’t just a flash in the pan.”

Huraimel said that the new city would mesh with existing projects; the city’s own light rail, for example, will link to the Dubai metro trains now being built.

While the Gruzen architects have been involved with other large-scale projects, including building a smaller city from the ground up in Iran, the Dubai project is unique.

“They’re building their own factories to make products,” Navarro said. “Anything you need is provided for. This is more than hype. It’s got real money behind it.”

Source: IHT

Related links: Detailed Master Plan of Dubai Waterfront

FLORIDA, Cape Town and Sofia in Bulgaria were the top performing residential markets last year, according to a new report from property firm Prestige. Prices rose by more than 20 per cent in these locations last year.

However, Prestige warned investors to shy away from the Costa Del Sol in Spain, where prices only rose four per cent last year. This was due to ongoing legal difficulties related to land ownership and rampant over-development.

Florida was the fastest growing residential market last year, soaring 27 per cent. However areas with the sharpest rises in prices could also be subject to the biggest falls, with the rampant Florida market seen by some doom merchants as an indicator of an unsustainable US property boom.

Bulgarian capital Sofia saw its residential housing market increase by 22 per cent in 2005, closely followed by the Western Algarve, which jumped 20 per cent. Property prices in Warsaw increased 18 per cent last year.

The increase in overseas house prices has been partially fuelled by pensioners spending their retirement abroad. Figures in the UK have shown that over 1m pensioners are drawing their state pensions abroad, up from 770,000 in 1997. The flow of investor cash abroad has also been hastened by falling or sluggish rental yields in the home markets.

Timeshare and shared ownership properties have been endorsed by a major new study undertaken across the region.

Revealed for the first time at today’s exclusive conference at Dubai’s icon of hospitality, the Burj Al Arab, the symposium included 18 presentations and panel discussions covering every aspect of the leisure real estate market.

Commissioned by RCI Middle East, part of the world’s largest holiday exchange and rental travel group, RCI Global Vacation Network, the research findings formed the basis of a programme that attracted an audience of high profile executives from around the world.

Stephen Holmes, Vice Chairman of Cendant Corporation, parent company of RCI, provided the keynote address, along with Awadh Al Ketbhi, Director of Conventions at Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

The research focused on the burgeoning Arab tourist market and the holiday preferences of Arab travellers. More and more of them are expressing a preference to holiday within the region and this survey is essential reading for all those involved in the local hospitality and leisure sectors.

Fieldwork was undertaken during March across a sample of nearly 1,000 high-earning nationals from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Egypt and the UAE. Undertaken by the Pan Arab Research Centre, (PARC), the face-to-face interviews were analysed and edited by NorthCourse Advisory Services, a member of the Cendant group that provides comprehensive consultancy and turnkey solutions for prospective developers around the globe.

The research revealed that the concept of shared ownership products is ideally suited to the higher income Middle Eastern national. Also, that many Saudi and UAE nationals are more inclined to consider buying a timeshare property over and above other options. Longer stay purchases, known as Fractional Ownership, typically involving a share of a larger number of weeks rather than just one or two, were also a major preference, especially amongst Kuwaitis and Egyptians.

The study demonstrated that the entire sample travels regularly and that holiday choices are largely based upon destinations that offer good family solutions and shopping rather than activity and adventure tourism. Food and fine dining is definitely high on the agenda for all respondents in the survey.

Topics of particular focus during the research were 4 leisure travel options - family holidays, religious travel, big trips and festive travels; the clear leader is family holidays. Many travel in larger groups, with extended family, friends and household staff; the larger, luxurious type of accommodation found within shared ownership developments, can fulfil these requirements perfectly. Notably, 40% of Saudi Nationals take household staff away with them, and 46% of UAE Nationals take their parents.

Dubai and the UAE as a whole are the most popular destinations for all nationalities, especially when considering a timeshare purchase. The potential is significant - the Middle East market alone could support USD$540 million in annual timeshare sales. With regard to fractional ownership, the most attractive locations were Dubai, Sharm El Sheikh and Makkah. Although this is a smaller market in terms of volume, gross annual sales are estimated at USD $642 million, greater than for timeshare due to higher-value properties. Another exciting new shared ownership product is religious timeshare, which has received an extremely positive response amongst Muslim communities across the globe, who all have a common interest in travelling to Makkah.

These findings clearly demonstrate the major potential for shared ownership developments within the Middle East, where to date construction within the Gulf region exceeds USD$1 trillion, according to MEED reports. Within Saudi Arabia the value of new projects has doubled to more than USD$200 billion in the last 12 months.

Vivienne Noyes-Thomas, Managing Director of RCI Middle East, commented ‘today’s symposium is a unique forum packed with ground-breaking information for all those with an interest in property development, hospitality and sales. With close on 150 delegates from 15 different countries, it has drawn substantial interest from developers, government organisations and the entire leisure real estate industry.’

Other topics covered by speakers from the US, Europe and Asia at today’s symposium included The New Generation of Luxury Timeshare, Condo Hotels and Buy to Use and Let property models. Spanish tourism marketing expert Euologio Bordas set the background with a review of Global Tourism Trends and Shared Ownership within the ‘Dream Society’. Key business leaders from the local community - including Elaine Jones, CEO of Asteco, James Wilson, CEO of Nakheel Hotels and Resorts, Patrick Smith, VP Asset Management for IFA Hotels and Resorts - examined the opportunities for these new business models in the regional property and leisure development marketplace.

Source: AME Info

Banco Halifax Hispania, the Spanish arm of the Halifax, has revealed new research that suggests nearly a third of Britons (29 per cent) would be interested in buying property abroad.

The US and Australia were the most popular destinations amongst those who had thought about looking overseas, with each picked out by nine per cent of those asked. The most popular European destination was Spain (six per cent).

The increase in demand for foreign property, particularly in Spain, is reflected in the Official Social Trends Report (OSTR), which notes that Spanish property accounts for 27 per cent of all Britons’ second homes abroad.

The OSTR also found that spending on overseas property has increased by 45 per cent in the UK in the last four years.

Head of European operations at Halifax, Ian Smith, said: “Over recent years we have seen a huge increase in the number of UK residents wanting to buy a property in Spain.”

“Our mortgage products are designed with British residents in mind,” Mr Smith continued. “We certainly understand the type of mortgage products that British customers require, based on our vast experience in the UK and our knowledge of British attitudes and culture.”

Banco Halifax Hispania works alongside a UK-based operations team, making the process easier for British customers who wish to invest in property abroad without the hassle of directly contending with a multitude of foreign companies and institutions.

This, along with the fact that customers can deal with their mortgage lender in English rather than Spanish, is said by many consumers to be a major selling point.

Source: Fair Investment

A huge demand for homes in the sun has seen Britons’ spending on properties overseas increase by 45 per cent in four years. The number of them owning second homes abroad now exceeds a quarter of a million people, at 257,000.

The official Social Trends report today says British families have invested more than £23 billion in overseas property, with most of that invested in Spain and France although increasing numbers are turning to Canada, the Caribbean and New Zealand.

The Office for National Statistics says more than a million British families own a second home, the vast majority of which (72 per cent) are in England, with five per cent in Wales and Scotland, and the remainder overseas.

“In recent years the increasing affordability and accessibility of foreign property markets has contributed to a rise in the number of UK households that own second homes abroad,” the report says.

“Between 1999-2000 and 2003-4 the number increased by 45 per cent.”

Spain accounted for 27 per cent of all second homes abroad, followed by France at 20 per cent.

But in 2003-4 over a third of all homes owned abroad were outside Europe, with property ownership by Britons increasingly common in places such as the United States, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Alex Wright, director of the currency specialist HIFX, which assists Britons buying property abroad, said there was strong demand in more adventurous locations.

“Spain and France are still the most popular destinations but we have seen increased interest for investment property in Bulgaria and Dubai. Even Canada and Switzerland have seen their fortunes rise and new locations pop up all the time, including Egypt, Brazil, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.”

The Association of British Travel Agents estimates that home ownership abroad will double over the next five to seven years. The Spanish Ministry of Tourism predicts that more than one million foreigners will set up home on the Spanish coast in the next six years, a figure expected to treble by 2025.

Sarah Vaughan, a property specialist and director of a public relations firm based in Spain, said: “Realistically the minimum you can spend is £145,000 for a two-bed apartment, or £210,000 if it is in Marbella.

“The Costa del Sol is not the place to buy if you are looking for a good investment. You can still buy places for a song in northern Spain and inland, but northern Spain tends to be rainy and without the bars and if you are inland you might not be near the airport, or have a phone connection, or the property might need a lot of work.”

Recent research suggested some young Britons were looking abroad to take their first step on the property ladder because house prices were too high in Britain.

A poll of more than 4,600 adults, conducted by YouGov, found that nearly half of the 18- to 29-year-olds questioned planned to buy abroad, with two thirds saying their foreign investment would be their first property purchase. More than 80 per cent of those first-time buyers said they would rent out their property.

Source: Telegraph 25/02/2006

Spain has come out as the number one destination for UK buy-to-let investors during 2005, a new study has revealed.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that the majority of UK people considering investing in property abroad are heading for the traditional favourite of Spain. Despite the emergence of many other vibrant property markets in recent years – in particular eastern European destinations such as Bulgaria – the figures reveal that most are keen to stick to the old favourite.

Many people recognise that Spain represents a solid investment, with property still in hot demand despite talk of a slowdown in the market and the country’s overall economy. That has failed to dampen the spirits of many property investors, who realise that the country is still hugely popular with British tourists as well as those from other countries, meaning that there will always be a market to help property prices grow.

And the number of people who have come to realise this fact has jumped considerably in recent years.

While the government’s U-turn on self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) had led some to fear that 2006 would result in a downturn in investment in foreign property, rather than the earlier anticipated increase, the ONS study suggests that the market will remain buoyant regardless of the Sipps situation.

This can be seen from the fact that 257,000 Britons now own a second home abroad, according to the ONS statistics, with spending on overseas investment jumping by 45 per cent in the last four years alone.

Over £23 billion was spent by Britons on foreign property investments last year, with Spain being the top destination.

However, the Spanish pull is not the only area interesting UK investors, with France coming second on the list.

According to the figures, while 27 per cent of foreign investments went on properties in Spain, 20 per cent of those investing in the property sector abroad chose France.

Overall, 75 per cent of all second homes owned by Britons are in England, highlighting the fact that the UK property market is still one of the strongest in Europe despite the slowdown over the last 12 months, with investors still seeing the UK market as having the potential to offer significant returns.

That view is endorsed by recent studies which have suggested that the housing market is back on track, with buy-to-let lending increasing at one of the fastest rates since the turn of the year.

The number of Britons who plan to buy properties abroad is set to double, according to research released by today by Barclays.

Some 5% of people questioned by the bank already own a home abroad, while a further 5% said they would “definitely” buy a property overseas in the future.

In addition, 37% of respondents said they were “considering a purchase abroad”.

But while people are attracted to the idea of buying overseas, the survey revealed there are some practical concerns they need to address.

Over half (58%) of those who are considering a purchase said they were concerned about local legal or tax issues; 17% were worried about the security of an empty property; and 8% feared they might be overcharged by the seller.

A further 14% were worried that they did not know the local language well enough to arrange the deal.

Among those questioned, Spain (including the Balearics and Canary Islands) was the most popular location for a second home, with 30% of potential buyers naming it as their preferred destination.

Perhaps surprisingly, the US was second on the list, favoured by 15% of Britons, while 14% said they wanted to buy in France.

Some 9% of those asked said they didn’t yet know where they wanted to buy.

“The trend towards owning property abroad shows no sign of abating and could go through the roof if people were more confident of a hassle-free purchase,” said Suzanne Clay, head of European business development at Barclays.

Speculating on reasons for the surge in interest in overseas property, Ms Clay said: “Many people buying a second home overseas are likely to use it for holiday purposes, but are not averse to letting the property out to help with mortgage repayments.”

“They might also be looking at it as a place to retire to,” she added. “To others, this may be a significant step towards moving overseas permanently.”

The popularity of second homes abroad has risen in recent years, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics in June.

They revealed that between 2002-03 and 2003-04 the number of British families who owned a second property overseas increased by 20% to reach a quarter of a million.

Source: Guardian Unlimited