The news of Dubai's plan to build a replica of the Taj Mahal created ripples. Above, a replica of the monument at the Cityscape. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
The news of Dubai's plan to build a replica of the Taj Mahal created ripples. Above, a replica of the monument at the Cityscape. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

As property booms, a bust is remembered



The rebounding Dubai property market made headlines around the world last week, helped by the triple whammy of rising prices, queuing investors and a Taj Mahal.

But who were the people in the queues? And why did that Taj Mahal project sound familiar? And how much exactly have property prices and rents risen?

After four years hype has returned to the property market as if 2008 was just a bump in the boom. Old projects were trotted out at the annual Cityscape exhibition and developers became brave enough to start bragging again. But analysts urge caution.

"They were queuing to get in, which was refreshing to see as long people don't get too carried away," says Nicholas Maclean, the regional managing director of CBRE and a veteran of the Dubai property market.

He points out that a recovery in prices and rents remains confined to specific parts of the market such as high-quality and well-located offices and villas.

The halls of Cityscape, replete with beautifully manicured models of projects of the future represent one perspective on the property market.

Another can be seen by driving down the nearby Al Khail Road on the city's periphery, where many of the half-built monuments of the last boom are located. From Sports City to Jumeirah Village Circle, skeletal concrete structures abound that were once intended to be luxury condominiums and five-star hotels.

Lacking landscaping, services or many of the amenities promised at their launch, they present a very different picture to the verdant images used to sell them.

The question now is not whether the boom times are back. What investors really want to know is whether developers have learnt from their mistakes.

Will they first deliver what they promised before promising to deliver more?

The biggest news story out of Dubai last week in terms of column inches was a plan to build a modern-day Taj Mahal at the Falcon City of Wonders project. It was covered by the BBC, CNN and newspapers worldwide.

But this was not strictly speaking a news story. This Taj Mahal plan is in fact more than six years old. This context did not figure in the extensive media coverage it received.

Ironically, the Falcon City Taj Mahal project received less media coverage the first time around.

But that was when it competed for attention with even bigger headline-grabbers such as Chess City (a plan to build 32 skyscrapers formed in the shape of chess pieces) or the US$245 million (Dh900m) Lemnos project (billed as a "high luxury world" dedicated to women).

Falcon City of Wonders is just one of many Dubailand projects launched in the first half of the last decade that have yet to be built.

A Dubailand statement from April 2005 said the first phase of the project would be ready by 2007. It has been a regular exhibitor at shows such as Cityscape over the past seven years and had been almost forgotten about until last week when it found itself an unexpected poster boy for Dubai's property rebound.

Projects such as Falcon City were conceived at a time when developers were not convinced that investors would want to buy property in the middle of the desert without some kind of dazzling attraction - such as a revolving ski slope, the world's largest Ferris wheel or any number of theme parks.

But what developers like Emaar have proved is that people prefer living in communities to theme parks.

It is not an accident that the most popular and best-performing villas in Dubai are located in such developments as Arabian Ranches and The Lakes.

It is because they have been landscaped and finished to a high specification relative to the rest of the market. These projects have cracked how to sell lifestyle and have largely delivered it without log flumes or big dippers.

What the last bubble taught us is that the launch of multibillion-dollar projects counts for nothing unless there is real money behind them. So the relaunch of old schemes is not evidence of a recovery - it is evidence instead of developers seeking to capitalise on improving sentiment.

That just leaves us to consider the data - and even that may not be exactly what it seems. A 14 per cent rise in the price of Dubai villas in the year to August cited by Jones Lang LaSalle last week undoubtedly points to a rebound.

But it should be noted that the index that produced this figure is based on a combination of asking and selling prices that can vary hugely in what is still an illiquid market.

Villa rent gains of 7 per cent mentioned in the same report and over the same period are based entirely on asking prices. Landlords will be encouraged to increase asking rents if they feel the market is rebounding. But we don't know definitively if they are achieving these rents.

"Landlords will chance their arms but there is still a hell of a lot of supply to get through," says Mr Maclean.

Prices are rising indisputably for well-located developments in Dubai. There is at least consensus here.

But with an additional 50,000 homes scheduled to be delivered in the emirate over the next two years alone, nobody needs to be queuing.

UAE v Ireland

1st ODI, UAE win by 6 wickets

2nd ODI, January 12

3rd ODI, January 14

4th ODI, January 16

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

The specs: Fenyr SuperSport

Price, base: Dh5.1 million

Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six

Transmission: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm

Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km

No more lice

Defining head lice

Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.

Identifying lice

Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.

Treating lice at home

Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.

Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital

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Pieces of Her

Stars: Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, David Wenham, Omari Hardwick   

Director: Minkie Spiro

Rating:2/5

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Two stars

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%C2%A0profile
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800