I keep wondering about the logic of buying a flat or buying a property off plan for developments that are a) in a desert, b) thousands of miles away, and c) have very little to do nearby apart from what is being built and punted and 'invested'* in by others who have believed the development bandwagon hype.

I've no doubt that with some of the construction and engineer folk on here we've got people who been involved in the contracts, but do you know anyone who who's taken a dip in the water or jumped in with both feet






*I think inverted commas can be placed around anything to do with investment from here on in.....

In my book anyone who buys something that is dependent on cheap fuel to get to is pretty shortsighted.

I can't say I am sad. Whilst there are some pretty pleasing engineering achievements there, it's the global equivalent of a chav with too much money. Any country (or indeed emirate) that promotes the gold plating of expensive cars needs a good dose of reality (and taste).

Originally Posted by NyseriA

I can't say I am sad. Whilst there are some pretty pleasing engineering achievements there, it's the global equivalent of a chav with too much money. Any country (or indeed emirate) that promotes the gold plating of expensive cars needs a good dose of reality (and taste).

Although Dubai doesn't have the oil riches of its neighbour Abu Dhabi it's still a very successful trading port and generates a fair bit of wealth from those activities. So the fact that some people over there have more money and less taste than they know what to do with should come as no surprise. It's what happens when you take a bunch of camel-shagging peasants and over the course of one generation elevate them to among the wealthiest people in the world.

Dubai's problem was to try and keep up with the rich kid next door by maxing out its credit cards.

Originally Posted by Tomcat

Although Dubai doesn't have the oil riches of its neighbour Abu Dhabi it's still a very successful trading port and generates a fair bit of wealth from those activities. So the fact that some people over there have more money and less taste than they know what to do with should come as no surprise. It's what happens when you take a bunch of camel-shagging peasants and over the course of one generation elevate them to among the wealthiest people in the world.

Dubai's problem was to try and keep up with the rich kid next door by maxing out its credit cards.

Thats about the strength of it.
An old bloke in Qatar told me (and he had a lot of money) that this boom was all good fun, but he said when the bubble bursts they'll all just go back into the desert with their goats just like before.

Dubai is shite, its just a desert where someone has dropped some buildings, its all false and you can really tell. Great for a short break or vacation but crap to live there unless you're old, with money and like young hookers or thai brides.

I have had the opportunity to buy some really cheap land/properties in the Caribbean, but eventually I'm going to settle back in England and then its a major operation just to fly over here, its not somewhere you can pop over for a weekend. So its impractical.
If I buy a holiday/second home then it'll be somewhere in Europe, so I can get to it easily.

Originally Posted by the phantom pieman

Berlin ...
Well, because of the Wall and other social factors rents in West Berlin have always been cheap. Property is also cheap ... compared to other European cities. In the past it was because of the threat of the East. Now it is because it has been like that and it will take a time to change...

But economics will work here ... its a European capital, it's a fun/interesting place to go, it's cosmopolitan etc ... and compared to other capitals /big cities property in hugely underpriced

It's a good place to buy for an investment or to rent out ....

I'll second that............

I'd like an apartment opposite the balcony where The Big A used to do all his yelling. How cool would that be?

But seriously, Berlin is everything Mr Pieman says it is...........

If I had any money to invest in property it would be in a country that was actually nice to go around and not a chavved up desert

Originally Posted by herriwullie

but do you know anyone who who's taken a dip in the water or jumped in with both feet

One would not wish to do that.
Despite all the buildings erected over there, and the increase in foreign workers etc, the sewage system has hardly been touched. Thus raw effluent poring into the sea is a major problem, and one will only go to the beaches out of ignorance, or if one has a fascination for watching turds surfing.

The place is a fly-blown shithole.

Originally Posted by demographic

If I had any money to invest in property it would be in a country that was actually nice to go around and not a chavved up desert

Originally Posted by Didge

One would not wish to do that.
Despite all the buildings erected over there, and the increase in foreign workers etc, the sewage system has hardly been touched. Thus raw effluent poring into the sea is a major problem, and one will only go to the beaches out of ignorance, or if one has a fascination for watching turds surfing.

The place is a fly-blown shithole.

What they said ^^^

But its not only Dubai, most of the middle east is like that, you should see some of the shittier places

Originally Posted by Tomcat

Although Dubai doesn't have the oil riches of its neighbour Abu Dhabi it's still a very successful trading port and generates a fair bit of wealth from those activities. So the fact that some people over there have more money and less taste than they know what to do with should come as no surprise. It's what happens when you take a bunch of camel-shagging peasants and over the course of one generation elevate them to among the wealthiest people in the world.

Dubai's problem was to try and keep up with the rich kid next door by maxing out its credit cards.

True. Abu Dhabi is a very wealthy country. Dubai is a very successful port. I think Dubai had delusions of grandeur and bought into it's own hype that there was an unlimited and untapped pool of global wealth that it could tap into . Oops!

Originally Posted by NyseriA

Dubai is a very successful port.

The trouble with Dubai port is that only a tiny, tiny proportion of its cargo is import or export. Over 95% is transhipment - that is, goods are offloaded to Dubai, sometimes repacked / consolidated, then shipped on to final destination.

This type of business is relatively volatile - it's quite easy for the shippers to move that operation somewhere else, and there is a lot of competition, from other Middle Eastern ports, and from India, especially.

The biggest attraction to Dubai Port is their Free Trade Zone. How long this is sustainable in its current incarnation is open to debate, particularly given the financial pressure Dubai now finds itself under.