Is Dubai’s Party Over?

it will the end of their arrogance...

The climate in Dubai changed drastically, from the gradual and steady development to a situation of loot. Construction booming at one end with speculators making a quick buck, overzealous employees being paid more than fancy salaries by over enthusiatic companies, the rent arena jumping onto the bandwagon and demanding rents unthought-of, the resultant being that the consumer price for survival became unbearable for the earlier inhabitants who had fairly reasonable salaries, and had to send their families and loved ones back. The scene was panicky and very scary. It was difficult for anyone to gauge what was and would happen. The current situation has halted the constructions and roped in the rent rockets. Let us pray for our DUBAI the CITY of GOLD to come out unscathed from this grave situation and resume its earlier gradual and steady rise.

The climate in Dubai changed drastically, from the gradual and steady development to a situation of loot. Construction booming at one end with speculators making a quick buck, overzealous employees being paid more than fancy salaries by over enthusiatic companies, the rent arena jumping onto the bandwagon and demanding rents unthought-of, the resultant being that the consumer price for survival became unbearable for the earlier inhabitants who had fairly reasonable salaries, and had to send their families and loved ones back. The scene was panicky and very scary. It was difficult for anyone to gauge what was and would happen. The current situation has halted the constructions and roped in the rent rockets. Let us pray for our DUBAI the CITY of GOLD to come out unscathed from this grave situation and resume its earlier gradual and steady rise.

The gap between the haves and the have nots had widened globally and this was specially true in UAE. Plus, what goes up the most also has to come down the most. Hopefully this should result in the right policies that does not squeeze the expatiates as it was being done in the last 3 years. UAE should hopefully become a place where the expecations are more realistic. Lower property prices and rental should also help tourism in the country.

Who would have expected this economic crisis to happen?? Frankly, I praise the Dubai government for what they have done in the past 30 years, and I sincerely feel they have done the right thing. I blame America for causing millions of people the loss of their jobs. I blame Greenspan for hurting an economy that was flourishing under such an entrepreneurial leadership of Dubai's.

Dubai have its ups and downs but best place you can have fun!
sure its a Jewel in the middle east

This the right time for Dubai to look back and take stock of the path it had blazed through. the last 20-30 years
Maybe this reflection will allow Dubai to reign in its venturesome impusles which has been its undoing in many fields apart from finance and contruction ,
May Dubai ,then,mature into a society that is equitable, socially and economically. A society that encourages entrepreneurship , creativity and excellence .At the same time, mould a society -a nation, on the human values expounded by the rich and deep religious and cultural heritage of the region.
And Dubai will remain the jewel of the east and the west, for centuries to come

As only one comment pointed out... Dubai AND the UAE is geographically Dead Center between the East and the West.. So as people recover the initail shock of the global crunch.. they sooner or later have to carry on their lives and food trade and business dont they?
..If these people from the East and the West need to save some money AND do business at the same time.. where would "meeting half way" be? - Thats Right ... THE UAE.

So tighten up your belts for a bit... sit back and wake up in 2010.. "Project Dubai" has been built ..project AbuDhabi is on its way...it's going nowhere, and it will be business as usual in 2 years at most.

- Optimistically,
Clyde

Yes, I am sure that Dubai is feeling the pinch of the global economic meltdown. With crude selling @ less than a third of it's high many high rollers will have no problem passing on Dubai. Why pay to ski in the middle of the desert when you can go to St. Moritz for less?

I have no sympathy for what is happening in Dubai because everyone in Dubai is rich, from the king to the menial labourers. The labourers are actually quite rich because when the send their money back home, they managed to build the biggest and most beautiful houses in their poor backward villages. Some of them can even afford batter apartments than DrewCAENG. Although they seemingly lead a poor life working in Dubai, they are NOT poor. Don't be fooled by their appearance.

Dubai is like Paris, no not that in France, the Hilton; glamour without substance. So I am not surprised if Dubai collapsed.

Dubai is for the rich. I don't care what happens to Dubai beacuse everyone in Dubai is rich, from the king to the menial labourers. Please not that the labourers are quite rich because whatever they earn from Dubais is sent back to thieir home and the currency conversion make them the riches people in the poor villages, They have managed to build large, beautiful houses back home in the poor villages out of whatever comfort they"sacrificed" in Dubai. They may be "relatively" poor= in Dubai but they can afford a luxury apartments in their home country much better than DrewCAENG's.

Dubai is like Paris, no not that "Paris in France" but the Hilton, glamour without substance. Therefore

Burning Dubai hydrocarbons will continue raising oceans, until artificial islands submerge?

Perhaps there has been some correction in real estate values but mostly on off plan properties i.e. properties that have yet to be built (3-4 years further from now) but as someone pointed out in the comments that prices of real estate have risen by over 600% in past 5 years so a downfall of 10-20% is ok and regardless the user will not be selling it, whether it goes up 100% or down 100%.

I refute many other charges of Dubai's downfall on my blog. Please review and let me know if anything I say is incorrect or presumptuos.

http://dubaibanker.blogspot.com/2008/12/dubai-troubles-is-it-real.html

Expat, perhaps I was refering to the laborors you mentioned. If my spelling is incorrect I apologize for offending you so very much. Thank you for proving my point even though you did so unintentionaly. Yes, the 25 nationals that live there may have plenty of food. Clearly you missed the point, read the article what % of the pop is national? Yes, Riyahd is a city, perhaps I didnt clarify either way they are currently constructing the latest "tallest buiding". Maybe it just seems strange that the ruling body's, SWF and families etc seem so concerned with impressing everybody else in the world with tall buildings. If those buildings are constructed with people sharing 20 to a room getting paid nearly nothing should we still be impressed?

Financiers and bankers are neither prophets or wizards, they are just speculators or spiders ready to kill the catch, no matter what will happen next. In a volatile world, where international diplomatic norms are floundered, the wild west mentality exhumed the inhalers of liquid gas addicts. It is the last test capitalism, either the end of open market or the beginning of new nationalism, neither will keep us safe in next two decades.

Drew, er, half the peoples of the Gulf nations are starving? While it's true that foreign laborers from South Asia are treated appallingly in Gulf nations and often go hungry, the biggest health problems for the nationals in these countries at present are obesity and diabetes - hardly conditions associated wth malnutrition, eh? Perhaps you should find out something about the countries before leaving comments Oh, and Riyadh (NOT Riyahd) is Saudi Arabia's capital, not a country.