Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 58
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 58

Compliments of the Season to all my readers

Another record breaking December at the world’s busiest airport for international passengers. 

Dubai International expects as many as 8 million passengers, and over 250,000 on some days, to pass through its gates this month, a figure boosted by the growing number of tourists and the closure of schools in the UAE for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Meanwhile, Emirates have announced that they will be flying to and from Essex in 2018.

This week’s discussions about property have included the following

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PropertySteven LeckieDT1, Akoya, Real Estate, Property Watch, Dubai real estate, property in Dubai, UAE propertyComment
2018 Predictions: Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports
2018 Predictions: Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports

At Dubai Airports, having a long-term view is a necessity and each year gives us the opportunity to track progress and reaffirm our approach.

While we are mindful of short-term fluctuations due to social-economic factors, we must also consider macro-economic factors and emerging trends that will shape our world 10 years from today.

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BusinessSteven Leckie2018 predictions, Emirates Airlines, Dubai airport, Dubai newsComment
London Stansted Cracks Long-Haul With Emirates Route to Dubai
London Stansted Cracks Long-Haul With Emirates Route to Dubai

London’s Stansted airport, best known as the biggest base of Ryanair Holdings Plc, will achieve its long-held ambition of expanding into long-haul flights with a major carrier next year after Mideast giant Emiratesannounced the opening of a route to Dubai.

Emirates, the world’s largest intercontinental airline, will commence daily services from the Persian Gulf sheikdom to Stansted starting next June using Boeing Co. 777-300ER jetliners, it said in a statement Wednesday.

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BusinessSteven LeckieBloomberg news, Emirates, Emirates Airlines, Dubai news, London Comment
Revealed: The two Dubai hotels rated as 'the worst luxury openings of 2017' - and which hotel in the same city is named the best
Revealed: The two Dubai hotels rated as 'the worst luxury openings of 2017' - and which hotel in the same city is named the best

Two hotels in Dubai have been rated as the worst luxury openings of 2017 by experts at a prestigious travel website. 

Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI), a members-only resource for affluent globetrotters, has ranked both The Dukes Dubai and Five Palm Jumeirah Dubai at the bottom of its new luxury hotel table.

The Dukes was criticised for not living up to the elegance of its sister property in London while it said Five Palm Jumeirah had a 'shaky start'.

Meanwhile another hotel in the same city - Bulgari Hotel & Resorts - was named the best new launch in the world in 2017, with the travel website praising its 'private and understated nature'.

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BusinessSteven Leckieluxury hotels, LTI, Daily Mail, Dubai hotelsComment
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 57
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 57

Earlier this week, Dubai approved its biggest ever budget as the emirate ramps up infrastructure spending in 2018 to finance work for Expo 2020. Expenditure will surge 19.5 per cent to Dh56.56 billion and revenue will increase 12.5 percent to Dh50.36bn in 2018.

The IMF is projecting growth of 3.3 percent for Dubai’s economy this year, and 3.5 percent next year, up from 2.9 percent growth last year.

In other breaking news - rain is forecast for the weekend - read all about it here.

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PropertySteven LeckieProperty Watch, Dubai real estate, property in Dubai, UAE propertyComment
Expect rain, thunder on Friday and Saturday in UAE
Expect rain, thunder on Friday and Saturday in UAE

Residents are advised to take extra caution this weekend until Monday as the country will be experiencing unstable weather with rain and some thunder activity.

The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) said it is continuously monitoring the weather system developing in the northern part of the country that will bring weather instability from Friday onwards.

“This extended surface depression and upper air low pressure with a cool air mass from the north will affect the northern and eastern UAE starting Friday,” a forecaster told Gulf News.

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BusinessSteven LeckieNCM, Residents Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai weather, myDubaiComment
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 56
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 56

Did you know that know that the UAE and Saudi Arabia will be the first in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to introduce Value Added Tax (VAT) in 2018 while other countries will follow in the coming years?

The introduction of VAT will help the UAE government to generate an estimated AED 2 billion (around 0.8 percent of GDP) worth of revenue in the first year, which will increase to AED 20 billion (approximately 1.2 percent of GDP) in 2019.

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PropertySteven LeckieProperty Watch, Dubai real estate, property in Dubai, UAE propertyComment
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 55
Bullet-Point Property: Dubai No. 55

The United Arab Emirates was formed on the 2nd December 1971, just 46 years ago, and it is one of the most notable days in the calendar where the entire country comes together to celebrate and honour the historical moment when the seven emirates combined to form one nation. 

I arrived here in 2003 shortly after the government announced that overseas buyers were able to invest in Dubai’s freehold property and it still amazes me that every apartment, house and community that you can buy into today did not exist 14 years ago.  

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PropertySteven LeckieProperty Watch, United Arab Emirates (UAE), property in Dubai, UAE propertyComment
Confessions of a Real Estate Agent - December 2017
Confessions of a Real Estate Agent - December 2017

It is impossible to drive around Dubai these autumn days and not see a construction crane, reminding me of the heady days before 2008 when 24/7 construction across the city often meant Dubai seemed to enjoy 24 hours of light.

 

Defying economic headwinds induced in part by an oil price drop, Dubai continues to push ahead with massive housing and construction projects such as Dubai Hills, Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR) City, and Dubai South.  The World Expo 2020 exhibition site is quickly emerging from the desert, connected by new roads and a Metro line.

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OpinionSteven LeckieDubai, Dubai real estate, Dubai trends, property in Dubai, UAE propertyComment