Ruined!

raki good to see you back on this forum .I was wondereing what has happened to you.Welcome back.
I went to Dubai(where i stop often on the way to Oz from M.E. 6 years ago to buy a small holiday apartment in the Oasis .on the Gulf .I had 50 K assigned for my big investment tucked in my wallet. I placed my price/estimate on a similar apartment you could buy in the Paradise of the world ,The coast of Australia on the western coast of the Indian Ocean,Perth of course .I was shoked to find they were asking 250 usd i could not see or understand the sense or the logic of that.I argued with real estate salesmen at the time about the asking price.They were ofended with my offer and deeply hurt their feelings They see my point ..The way i saw it like building castles on the sand.
Desert is vast hot humid and cheap.Why the land was so expoensive????

After the ascend now the descent is there.
Sheikhs are in trouble.

I've been in Dubai many times and for a long time and I can say I know quite the UAE. I fully agree with Marcopoloo . Only invested in Dubai who can not see an inch beyond their own nose.

I'd say that that was as short-sighted a generalisation as the bubble investors you're criticising.

People have been doing very nicely out of investing in Dubai for the last 30 years (not me I'd add, as I have never had the money to risk), and just because an insane number of very stupid people were too greedy to bother doing any research before throwing their money away in the last 3-4 years, it doesnt mean that there arent a lot of people who are still doing very nicely out of investing in Dubai.

Most of western Europe also has plummeting housing prices and horrifically unstable economies right now. Dubai's bubble has burst a lot faster and more obviously, but glass houses, stones etc.

Ok, but what is Dubai? What Dubai has tangible to survive in the near future without oil?
I know Dubai is only a major center for re-export and thousands of companies around the world made the city their base of business in ME and Asia. And how long these companies will be there?

Its a trading centre. In much the same style as both Singapore and Hong Kong.
Its a proven business model, based on ideal geographic location.
While ever people want to buy stuff, other people will be selling it and moving it around.

And just for reference, Dubai is a net importer of petrochemicals. It does survive without oil.

I'll clarify my position a little, I left Dubai some months ago, because I'd had enough. I dont support the crass development, the ridiculous greed, and various other less attractive sides to the Emirate, and I really hope the current crash will teach the rulers of Dubai a few lessons in humility, reality, sustainability etc, but I object to people reciting blanket statements that are either false, or ignorant, or both, which must be true because the Daily Mail said so.

Hi Marcopolo- I've been an Eastern Europe traveler the last couple of years- next year a Central Asian one!

But I would still have Syria most days, or Turkey the other days, as the best place I have ever been!

Welcome back to Syria Raki manYou veteran traveller.Do you every stay at home in Oz very little may be..People here in Syria think im crazy for switching countries(leaving Oz ) and living in the Middle East mainly in Syria.Well so far im not getting bored yet.Im not in a hurry to go back.For me Central Asia is a long way down the list of places i would like to travel i think, one day soon inshallah.

I'd come here to hear some first hand accounts of the fall of Dubai. Can some local posters relate what it's like being there? I've read in magazines here, in Japan, of expats leaving their Mercedeses in airport parking lots.

I would agree with GC that a blanket condemnation of Dubai is senseless. But what was going on in the last few years, perhaps starting from the Palms, was pretty nuts. Dubai will certainly pay for not only encouraging but being at the center of creating it in the shape of owning 100% of the two develpers, Nakheel and Emaar.

You compare Dubai to Singapore and HK. This is true to up to a point when both the city states ceased being trading centers. Both have made the transition to being financial centers. HK also has the unique advantage as the gateway to China which is the biggest thing since sliced bread, business wise. Essential to this next phase of growth is the rule of law. If local governance cannot guarantee transparency, sanctity of contracts and just provide general predictability in business decisions, Dubai's future is greatly dinimished.

This upcoming possible default by Nakheel on its sukuk (Islamic bonds) is a huge test for the system of Dubai. This is especially so because the judicial system will essentially pit the creditors against the ruling family of Dubai who owns all of the above two developers. If the decisions are seen as favoring Nakheel because it is owned by the Maktoum family, it will go a long way toward destroying trust in Dubai as a place to do business. Then there will be no guarantee that there will be anyone left to fill most of that massive overhang of office and residential square footage.

I will most likely visit Dubai on vacation early next year and it would be interesting to see it all first hand.