Dubai

[HenryTo]

Courtesy of the folks at wallstreetbear.com:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6179432634249787416&q=dubai

[rffrydr]

Never discount disaffected youth--with more money than they know what to do with:

http://wn.com/Saudi_Arabian_tape__Top_Gear__BBC
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[diesel]

The thing about Dubai is that the locals don't pay those fines; they are for the expats and tourists.

I have a few friends who have moved there for tax purposes, although paradoxically seem to spend most of their time in the south of France or floating around the Greek islands or for that matter anywhere but Dubai!

A few of my observations of Dubai are that the locals don't work [a friend who looks after their patrol boats can count on one hand how many times the navy went out in the last year], they don't chase the opposite sex [the local men are largely homosexual probably as a result of the forced segregation of the sexes at an early age] and they largely spend their time goofing off on the internet or in the malls [air-conditioning is wonderful when its 120 outside after daybreak].

Personally, I can think of much nicer places to park yourself if you want a low tax location to do business.
_________________
All cats are gray in the dark.

[nodoodahs]

[HenryTo]

Vanity Fair's scathing article on Dubai:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/04/dubai-201104?currentPage=all

[rffrydr]

"Ferrari World" "revs up":

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1644668608&play=1

Started in late '07 in Abu Dhabi.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

FYI

Dubai: Real Estate Crash Sends Prices, Rents Falling

By ANGELA SHAH / DUBAI Angela Shah / Dubai – 1 hr 7 mins ago
There's a half-off sale in the world's tallest building.

Even with an address at the iconic Burj Khalifa, rents for residences in the tower are not immune from Dubai's real estate crash. Indeed, nearly a year after it was inaugurated with a massive water-and-fireworks display, about 825 of the tower's 900 ultra-luxury apartments remain unoccupied, according to Better Homes, a real estate brokerage in Dubai.

The cost of renting a studio with floor-to-ceiling windows, marble fixtures and wooden floors has dropped to $1,815 a month from $3,025, while a one-bedroom apartment is available for $2,722 (it used to be $4,536), the brokerage says. Two-bedroom residences are expected to get $4,310, down from $7,183. Interested parties "call every few days and go for a viewing," says Imad Ben Khadra, a Moroccan expatriate who owns two 1,000-sq.-ft. one-bedroom apartments he purchased in late 2008 for about $950,000, both of which he is trying to rent out. "We got some offers [from prospective tenants], but nobody confirms." (See pictures of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.)

Varun Chaudhary bought two two-bedroom residences in the Burj for about $1.5 million in 2005 even before construction began. He saw the value leap from $762 per sq. ft. to $3,811 per sq. ft. at the heights of the boom. Today, those values hover just above his purchase price. But he says he isn't worried about his investment. "These properties will recuperate faster than other properties because it's an icon, because it's only one in the world," he says. "You just have to say 'Burj Khalifa.' That's the address; you don't have to explain. It's a style statement in itself."

Still, the Burj, with its one-of-a-kind address and amenities like the first-ever Armani Hotel, is only the most high-profile example how Dubai's once flying real estate market has crashed. Overall in the emirate, property prices have dropped an average of 50%. Some half-built projects, located away from the main highway that runs through the city, may never be completed because their values have dropped too much, analysts say.

But it's the units that will be completed that are looming as a problem. The Dubai economy must still digest a flood of housing units coming on line or soon to be opened, which will further dampen prices. Through September, 27,000 residential units have been put on the market, and another 9,000 are expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. For 2011, the firm forecasts that about 30,000 new units will come on line. A glut in commercial property has forced landlords to offer previously unheard-of incentives such as free rent and allowances to finish out shell construction space. "They built the infrastructure for a much larger economy than it can [now] attract," says Wissam Haroun, a Syrian expatriate who owns entertainment and technology companies in Dubai.

Worried about the glut, Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Agency recently said it was canceling or in the process of canceling about half of all projects registered with the authority. Of about 980 developments, 495 are on the chopping block, according to a Dubai sovereign-bond prospectus made public last week.

Some, however, see opportunity in the depressed prices. "It's a massive change in terms that it's no longer the man on the street or the lady on the street buying property on spec or off plan," says Paul Devonshire, a director with Pramerica Real Estate Investors who specializes in the Middle East and North Africa region. Now, he explains, institutions or more savvy investors are moving in, eyeing distressed or repriced assets.

But the buzz was decidedly subdued at the recent Cityscape Global, the annual real estate exhibition that in the past featured the launch of glitzy projects like the Palm Trilogy, the world's largest man-made islands. The name of the event itself had been changed from Cityscape Dubai in order to expand the focus beyond the city-state. Only a fraction of exhibitors - 200, down from around 1,000 during the boom - showed up to participate.

With speculators gone and credit still tight, Dubai is going about the hard work of adjusting to its new economic reality. Top of the list is paying back creditors that helped finance the boom. Over the past decade, Dubai amassed $109 billion in debt, with about $15.5 billion due this year, the International Monetary Fund estimates. Dubai World, one of the three main holding companies controlled by Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said last month that 99% of its creditors had agreed to alter the terms on $24.9 billion of its debt. Last November, Dubai World sent stock markets around the world tumbling when it announced it wanted a moratorium of its debts. "We are back. Of course we are back," Sheik Mohammed said in a Bloomberg TV interview last month while attending the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Ky.

But, having been through the financial volatility, few seem to want to part with their cash just yet. The Syrian expatriate Haroun, who has lived in Dubai most of his life and plans to raise his family there, says he would like to buy a home. But his forays into the market so far have left him unsatisfied. "People got stupid rich and stupid poor at the same time," he says. "I'm glad I stayed out of it."

[HenryTo]

Dubai's Worst Office Buildings Will Be Empty Forever, CBRE Says:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-13/dubai-s-least-attractive-office-buildings-will-be-empty-forever-cbre-says.html

[rffrydr]

....Special finance zone exempted no doubt. 3 martini lunches and 3-5-3 bankers rules, back in vogue.

Check out the latest "No Reservations" episode...particularly the meal with the swiss banker in the deserted Gordon Ramsey joint. And he's a lot fairer to the place than most of our biz press.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[nodoodahs]

Expat site article on working in the UAE
http://www.expatexchange.com/lib_rd.cfm?articleid=3100&networkid=112
_________________
I haven’t seen a beatin’ like that since somebody stuck a banana in my pants and turned a monkey loose.

[rffrydr]

Banning Blackberries is the future of finance?

[rffrydr]

"Just another day in Dubai":

http://feeds.autoblog.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~3/IM9fbxUSYxk/
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[rffrydr]

....And the Dubai World non-haircut haircut--not so good.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWXWWL6UUgYc&pos=4

Better than anyone could have expected in a commercial venture; worse than expected as sovereign cash--which is to say, a downer.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[rffrydr]

Nakeel lookin' good in God's eyes:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64C1JX20100513
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

Another day; another attempted cover-up:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World's tallest tower in Dubai reopens

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The observation deck of the world's tallest skyscraper reopened Sunday in Dubai, two months after an elevator malfunction that left visitors trapped more than 120 stories above the ground forced it to close.

Dozens of tourists were lining up Sunday for tickets to take an elevator to the 124th floor of the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa, where the tower's observation deck is located.

The deck was shut in February after an elevator packed with visitors got stuck between floors for 45 minutes before rescuers dropped a ladder into the shaft so those inside could crawl out. Two months later, it's still unclear what caused the elevator to fail.

The accident proved a major embarrassment for Dubai, whose rulers hoped the Burj Khalifa, which officially opened in January, would be a major tourist draw and buoy the Gulf city-state as it struggles to revive its image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.

At 2,717 feet (828 meters), the tapering, silvery tower ranks as not only the world's highest skyscraper, but also the tallest freestanding structure in the world.

Its developer, Emaar Properties has not officially announced the observation deck's reopening. The firm handling Emaar's public relations did not immediately respond to calls from The AP.

The Burj Khalifa tower rises more than 160 stories, though the exact number of floors is not known. The observation deck is mostly enclosed, but it includes an outdoor terrace bordered by guard rails and is located about two-thirds of the way up.

Two elevators, with up to 15 people each, whisk people up to the observation deck daily, running every half hour from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Most visitors who paid the 100 dirhams ($27) for a 3-minute ride to the deck, which boasts a view of Dubai's glimmering skyline, the sprawling desert and the emirate's Gulf shore, either didn't know about February's elevator malfunction or did not mind the ride's bumpy start.

"We feel fortunate to have gone up," said Sheetal Gulati, a tourist from the U.K. who's on a three-day trip to Dubai. "The view is very nice and worth seeing."

Emaar, the state-linked company that owns the tower, had little to say about February's accident. The company said nothing about an elevator malfunction at the time of the accident and did not provide details of any repairs or maintenance work on the elevators before the viewing deck reopened Sunday.

Burj Khalifa was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower.

The observation deck was the only part of the tower that opened in January. Work continues on the rest of the building's interior and the first tenants are supposed to move in soon.

[rffrydr]

As posted in '08:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a_Zh0q70aPxY&refer=home

http://www.marketthoughts.com/forum/culture-comes-first-t9736,postorder,desc,start,30.html

The spirit of "kingdom" finance is what it is in any kingdom: arbitrariness. Clearly on the way up as on the way down.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/02/15/149121/60-cent/
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!