Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
The value of delayed or cancelled construction projects in the UAE grew to $170 billion in the month just gone, in a strong indication that the country’s real estate industry has far from recovered.
UAE project cancellations and delays increase 13% © eAlisa - Fotolia.com
The 13% increase from projects that were delayed or cancelled in July was revealed last week in a report issued by Citigroup.
The MENA Construction Projects Tracker Report showed that UAE construction projects alone totaled 56% of all such delays in the entire Gulf region. Not surprisingly, said the report, UAE cancellations were predominantly related to the real estate sector.
The United Arab Emirate’s property market mirrored many of the problems seen in the US, with a huge boom followed by an even bigger bust in 2008, when property prices in cities such as Dubai fell by as much as 60%, something which forced numerous projects in the country to be abandoned by their developers.
One of those, Nakheel, who built Dubai’s renowned Palm Islands, lost around $21.5 billion in the crash, says the Arabian Business website.
Citigroup’s report mentioned that total value of projects across the MENA region that have now been cancelled or put on hold dropped from July’s $1.7 to $1.69 trillion in August.
In the region’s other major markets, Saudi Arabia has almost $81 billion worth of construction projects at the pipeline stage, while Kuwait has $20 billion worth on hold, and even Qatar has $2 billion.
