It's been a while since we posted a Dubai disaster story, but following the lead of the Indian TV station NDTV we thought we'd do a little digging.
NDTV's report is a bit like the one shown on British television not that long ago, an episode of the program Homes from Hell dedicated solely to the tragic tales of people who have paid thousands of pounds dollars and euros towards Dubai properties that are still no more than rotting foundations, and how, because the market developed so rapidly, the legal system still has nothing governing off plan purchases, and so there is very little that those affected can do but wait.
The NDTV report focuses on the property 29 Boulevard, a prestigious skyscraper project designed by New York architect Frank Williams and to be built near the now completed Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. 100 people camped outside the Emaar offices to bag a good unit in the development, according to the NDTV report. The property has never got any further than its foundations, which are "rotting" according to NDTV.
“It’s really a disaster, the situation in Dubai,” said Silvia Turrin, a real estate agent who bought into the development, and has been unable to get her money back out. “It’s not like in Western countries. It’s very difficult to exit here if there’s a problem. And we’ll never get our money back, but now we’re stuck dealing with this hole.”
The lack of legal framework is allowing Emaar to hold onto people's down payments of up to 80%, despite failing to deliver on the project.
In a statement, Emaar acknowledged that 29 Boulevard was still “under construction” but said that it upheld transparency standards and had “taken several proactive measures to address the concerns of investors on developments that are in the pipeline.”
As we know, 29 Boulevard is far from being an isolated case, the ITV program covered dozens of couples and buyers trapped paying off loans for payments made on properties they look unlikely to ever receive.
It is ironic that Dubai's legal system is strong enough to prevent people from walking away from loans for fear of being jailed, but unable to force developers to honour contracts.
But we know all this. However, according to the NDTV report vacancy rates in Dubai are still rising. This flies in the face of a recent report by Dubai investor newsletter Arabian Money, which said vacancy rates fell over the summer. It is obviously counting a different figure for total housing stock, and potentially new supply as well, which no one really has a handle on, again this is down to the legal systems.
If one good thing has come out of all this it is that buyers are doing more digging than ever before. Checking laws, checking the season to make sure they will not be holidaying in a baron landscape off season, and checking planning permission, developer status, in short: checking everything they should be checking.
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