Real Estate Firm Sees Few Signs of Dubai Rebound
Dubai's battered real estate market got more bad news Wednesday when a leading property company said it saw little hope soon of a rebound after office leasing rates plunged more than half in a year.
The bleak assessment by CB Richard Ellis is the latest indication that the Middle East commercial hub's once hot property market faces an uncertain future even as new properties such as the more than half-mile-high Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, continue to open their doors.
Figures released by the Los Angeles-based commercial property giant show that office space filling Dubai's numerous high rises and purpose-built business parks has been hit especially hard by the emirate's property slump. The firm said in its quarterly report that the Dubai market remained sluggish in the last three months of 2009 and shows "few signs to suggest any imminent upturn in fortunes."
Office leasing rates tumbled 57 percent in the fourth quarter from their level the previous year, according to the property company. It estimates some brand new office buildings stand more than 30 percent empty.
Eye of Dubai (press release)The company has since grown to become the largest private property management firm in the United Arab Emirates. “The varying rent levels over the past 25 1985 rent for studio in Deira: Dh9,500all 7 news articles »
