International Property Journal - News and information on global property markets

Nine months after Burj Khalifa opened with a massive fireworks and light show, 90 percent of the apartments in the world world’s tallest building are empty, a Dubai agent says.

With only about 75 of the 900 apartments in the tower occupied, asking rents in the tower have fallen almost 50 percent, Better Homes sales adviser Laura Adams told Gulf News. Studio apartments are now available for about $1,800 a month, down from $3,000, while two-bedroom units once priced at $7,100 a month now rent for about $4,300.

Dubai’s sagging property market is still at least two years away from recovery, analysts predicted this week during Cityscape Global, the region’s largest property convention.

“All sectors of the Dubai market remain in the downturn phase of the cycle, with the likelihood of continued falls in average prices and rentals over the rest of 2010,” Jones Lang LaSalle said.

Another 9,000 residential units are expected to come on line in Dubai in the next year, according to the consultancy.

Al Furjan

Nakheel, the troubled Dubai developer, is poised to restart work on eight projects, as it finalizes a deal to rework its debt, the company’s chief executive told reporters this week.

A reorganization plan should be completed by the end of the year, including an arrangement to repay Dh4 billion (about $1 billion) to its trade creditors, Nakheel chief Chris O’Donnell said. Under terms of the deal, contractors will be paid 40 percent of the money owed in cash and 60 percent will be covered by a sukuk, an Islamic bond.

Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia were the strongest performing property markets in the world through the first part of 2010, while Europe continued to struggle with the economic tide.

Ireland was the worst performing market, posting a 16 percent drop in prices from a year earlier, compared to a 34 percent jump for Singapore, according to inflation-adjusted data tracked by the Global Property Guide.

Once the symbol of Dubai’s real estate decadence, Palm Jumeirah now exemplifies the collapse of the emirates’ luxury market.

Prices on the array of man-made islands have fallen by 70 percent in two years, PropertyWire reports. Property that once attracted $626 a square foot is now selling for $191 a square foot. A three-bedroom apartment on Shoreline recently sold for $422,000—an unheard of price for a project representing the top end of Dubai opulence.

Dubai-based Emaar Properties is denying reports that it is pulling out of a plan to develop a $600 million resort and residential project on the Indonesian island of Lombok.

In March 2008 Emaar signed a joint venture deal with the Bali Tourism Development Corporation to build the project, one of the first ventures into Indonesia by a Middle East developer. Emaar announced plans for a 1,200 hectare development, including a marina and golf course on the island, which is about 25 miles from Bali.

The real estate developer who bought the “Britain” island in Dubai’s the World project is facing seven years in jail for writing bad checks.

London-native Safi Qurashi is the owner of Premier Real Estate Bureau, described on its Web site as “Dubai's leading agency for affordable luxury waterfront homes since 2005.”  In its heyday, the firm generated £400 million and employed 80 people, according to the British press.

Of the myriad of annual studies measuring everything from home buying habits to the favorite ice cream of billionaires, the Merrill Lynch/CapGemini World Wealth Report is one of my favorites.

The report primarily tracks the number of wealthy people in the world, the volume of people who can call themselves millionaires. Of course, a million doesn’t go very far these days, so instead of measuring the filthy rich, the report really tracks simply those people doing pretty good, the people making money or losing it.

After posting a 50 percent drop in valuations in the last two years, Dubai’s residential market is ready to embrace any sign of good news.

So when Colliers International this week reported a two percent increase in prices in the first quarter of 2010, many trumpeted the report as a sign prices may be stabilizing. The modest bump was the first year over year increase since 2008.

But the real meat of the Colliers report was far more depressing.

Home prices in the fourth quarter of 2009 continued to surge in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region, while values plummeted in Dubai and Eastern Europe, according to the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index.

Around the world, prices fell an average of 3.8 percent in the quarter, including .6 percent drop in the United States.

“The recovery in global housing markets is still proving somewhat shaky,” said Knight Frank head of residential research Liam Bailey. “Although a number of locations saw staggering growth of up to 28 percent in 2009, prices were still falling in almost half of the countries in our index during the final three months of the year.”