Who to blame for the current downturn?

[Rajesh]

The situation is definatley going to improve... Right now it is the panic driven and fearful people who do not understand what does "recession' means are spreading rumours and negative emails, messages....

But the fact is there are no buyers today....I wish to sell my apartment and even at no-premium, there are no buyers.....

So someone claiming that he can sell now.....unbelievable..

 

[Investy]

Who was going to let all these places in Dubai? When I used to bring up this subject I was told there were armies of tenants wanting to live in Dubai.

 

[financier888]

Who was going to let all these places in Dubai? When I used to bring up this subject I was told there were armies of tenants wanting to live in Dubai.

That's good question - lower priced units in Satwa, Bur Dubai and Karama are not getting snapped-up. I have a friend that owns a unit in the Burj and dropped the rental price of his one bedroom from 150,000 tp 120,000 - still no takers.. & more people will be moving out - but good news - One of senior mangmnt from Emaar today stated that the "demand stilll exceeds the supply' - so prices wont drop that much, which of course, if quite re-assuring.

 

[Hussein Awadh]

That's good question - lower priced units in Satwa, Bur Dubai and Karama are not getting snapped-up. I have a friend that owns a unit in the Burj and dropped the rental price of his one bedroom from 150,000 tp 120,000 - still no takers.. & more people will be moving out - but good news - One of senior mangmnt from Emaar today stated that the "demand stilll exceeds the supply' - so prices wont drop that much, which of course, if quite re-assuring.

Actually, that won't change anything much. Everyone is saying that but it doesn't seem to affect investor confidence.

As for rentals; well it's still the begining of 2009 and everyone is still waiting for rents to fall further. Of course it makes sense lower rents will attract eyes, but if everyone is expecting it to drop further, why take it now? People who have renewed their rental contracts aren't willing to move out of their current homes as yet, and speaking to a lot of people currently renting their waiting for the prime location rents to drop. A 1 BR in Marina is now 105k a year. That's pretty low if you ask me, but I would still wait for it to get lower before someone like me would decide to take it up.

 

[financier888]

Actually, that won't change anything much. Everyone is saying that but it doesn't seem to affect investor confidence.

As for rentals; well it's still the begining of 2009 and everyone is still waiting for rents to fall further. Of course it makes sense lower rents will attract eyes, but if everyone is expecting it to drop further, why take it now? People who have renewed their rental contracts aren't willing to move out of their current homes as yet, and speaking to a lot of people currently renting their waiting for the prime location rents to drop. A 1 BR in Marina is now 105k a year. That's pretty low if you ask me, but I would still wait for it to get lower before someone like me would decide to take it up.

I'd expect the rents to drop in the Marina / JBR - to 85K - 90K for a one bedroom - by May / June - many owners still holding out for rents that are no longer achievable - reality will eventually set in - after all - where are ALL these renters going to come from? with no jobs and tens of thousands on their way out?