Ryan Mahoney, the chief executive of Better Homes, one of the UAE's biggest property companies, has a ground-level view of the market, with a strong sense of what is working - and what's not.
What do you think needs to be done to spur the property market?
There are few key things that need to be addressed, but many of them are already being done. The first thing . is a direct correlation to the growth of the population and the availability of supply in the market. The population needs to continue to grow.
Are there things that can be done to continue that growth?
I think it directly connects to the visa regulations. Obviously, they have to take into consideration national security. But purely from a property perspective the ease of getting visas and becoming a resident in Dubai is critical. Looking at ways that people well-established in business can get longer-term visas is [another option]. The increased ease of doing business - a lot has been done, but a lot more needs to be done. We look at our commercial department, there's a growth of new business coming to Dubai. It's so much easier to set up a business in Dubai . and it's much cheaper due to the oversupply of office space. But still it's not as easy as it is, say, in Singapore and some countries. So that needs to be simplified. From a visa perspective there's opportunities to grow population through special categories. For example, the retiree market. The ability to get special permits so they can live in Dubai beyond a certain age is critical.
So these things are not necessarily property industry related?
The property market is connected to growing new businesses and growing the population . and tourism. Dubai has done so well in the tourism industry, so I think it would be great to get some of those projects back on the table and reenforce that growth. That would lead to growth in the population.
What is the key to growing confidence?
Two things. Fundamentally, population growth will produce yields for these properties and people will start to see that. The other thing of course is the legal infrastructure, the regulatory infrastructure. They need to continue to improve regulation and they're doing that . Rera [Real Estate Regulatory Authority] is doing that.
Any other factors?
Homeowners associations [are vital]. I really believe people's ability to collect service fees is critical to the long-term success and maintenance of those properties. I think Dubai has great homeowner laws and legislation. But so far it has not been implemented.
* Kevin Brass
Tell Me Who I Am
Director: Ed Perkins
Stars: Alex and Marcus Lewis
Four stars
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Political flags or banners
-
Bikes, skateboards or scooters
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
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5