so when's Dubai gonna pick up again, if it ever will?!?

[Haissam]

I'm sure you guys can see that things have slowed down in this country: projects on hold, banks in trouble, real-estate down, companies not rectuiting, some considering firing existing employees and so on...

Most of us are expats here & it would be useful to share our experiences from what's happening in our companies so we get a bigger picture..

For example I'm a project manager in construction and have noticed the following:

- my company will continue with projects in hand, but all projects forecasted for 2009 & 2010 are now on hold by the developers :(

- my company has stopped recruiting

- my company is not considering reducing current staff since we're all busy with current work :)

- salary increments & bonuses will be kept to a minimum this year :cry:

- our main client (Union Properties) is putting pressure on everyone to complete phase-1 of motor city in order to handover ASAP to the tenants, which means they get their payments

- banks are calling me regarding increased fixed deposit rates, obviously they need cash


the list doesn't end, but let us have your input & concerns!

[RAFiK]

I'm heard a lot of issues regarding Dubai's economy, however, i haven't come out to a conclusion.. I noticed many companies sacking low positioned employees to save millions per year. Most of the current projects have been postponed and held until further notice !!

And yes, Banks are giving high rate on deposits so they can make sure they stay at the safe side... It is just a crappy situation and god knows what is next ...

[SewerSideUp]

I don't understand much of the financial and market crash stuff to be honest, I speak car language .

But, seeing Emaar going down the drain is freaky enough !

[Bruno]

the problem is nothing can guide you anywhere! everyone seems to be lost!

[SSense]

The share market is so bad that 10 days its low and out of no where one day its high. All the people who bought shares that are related to real estate companies like Emaar, RAK properties etc, are in a huge loss since the real estate is facing a slump period. Luckily all my shares are related to banks like Dubai Islamic, Ajman, etc.. so no loss until now for me, but I feel pitty for people who have lost thousands and some who even lost millions thinking real estate will always be profitable for them in Dubai !

[the eldest boy]

but I feel pitty for people who have lost thousands and some who even lost millions thinking real estate will always be profitable for them in Dubai !

:nono: don't feel pity for them. Investing in real estate is traditionally a safe option but it's a gamble, and they lost.

As for property investors who have lost millions, i can only smile and laugh. These are the guys who buy up all the property in Dubai to either resell it at a huge margin or rent it at a ridiculous amount. These people are part of the problem.

Predictions are the the housing market will "crash". This is a misunderstanding. If and when the housing prices drop, it'll be an "adjustment", meaning that rather than the economy falling out of control, it's simply drifting back down to a sensible level. As an example, the FTSE 100 (the index of the the 100 most valuable companies in the UK) was trading a year ago above 6500 points. It is now around 4200 - a 33% fall. However, the FTSE 100 was "artificially high" because of people's credit card spending and banks flogging people mortgages that they couldn't afford. This gave the impression of an economy doing well, when in fact the opposite was true - people were borrowing more because they have less money of their own (caused by the very expensive cost of living in the UK).

Imagine i lend you a 10,000,000aed, and you go out and spend it all. That doesn't make you a rich man, does it? It just means you have easy access to cash that you don't really own, and at some point, you've gotta pay it back. And this is the crux of it...you can't pay it back. You don't have the money. At this point, things fundamentally change, which is what the UK economy is seeing. You go from spending loads of money one week, to spending very little the next. It doesn't mean you're broke (a "crash") but it does mean that you're spending has come back to sensible levels (an "adjustment").

The Dubai economy isn't suffering like the rest of the world is. The economy within itself is fine and is booming. What is happening is that Dubai is "feeling the effects" of the financial instability outside of it's borders. It's quite simple...most of all the development in Dubai relies heavily at some stage on foreign money (i.e. property sales, tourism). People and companies around the globe are hesitating on investment - basically they're not buying stuff. That means that (for now) less people will holiday here, less people will buy property here, less companies will invest here. When this situation occurs (i.e. a slump in demand), companies like Nakheel, Tatweer, Emaar etc have to look at their portfolios and make cuts - they will not build stuff if people are not going to buy it. Job cuts at these companies are unfortunate, but these cuts are not needed because the companies are in financial trouble, they are simply downsizing their staffing numbers to reflect the downturn in external demand for the goods and services they provide.

Don't worry, it'll be fine ;)

[the eldest boy]

Don't forget, a recession is generally defined as two consecutive financial quarters where an economy has negative growth (when the total value of goods and services [GDP] generated in a particular timeframe falls from one period to another] . Dubai's inflation in 2007 was around 12%, or +3% per quarter.

[RAFiK]

GDP = Gross Domestic Product ..... :D:D:D I remember that in my Economics Class :D:D ...

btw i'm not an economy expert !

[Ayham]

I've sized up my plans and the first thing that needs to be cut back is racing. Yes, it gets expensive between tires, replacing/upgrading parts, oils, and labor. I think we're blessed enough that we have the HPDS that can support our "needs", but running my calculations recently revealed to me that racing is eating away a good chunk of my savings/income, and that's with a street car, can't think what it's like for purpose-built cars owners.

So, you'll be seeing less of me this season (IF I could!!!!!!!!) because the fall has affected my projected calculations and while it's fun to me racing every other weekend and trying to smash some times it's quite the opposite if anything unexpected should happen and further worsen the situation....

I can't believe I j ust said that, but that was me in an honest moment.

[SSense]

Ayham, I appreciate what you've just said :clap: thats what Ive also always thought..

[hiten86]

As far as the market has been concerned:

Every known business has suffered reasonable losses from this years crisis.

For example AIG, Lehman Brothers were the two in spotlight for they're bankruptcy.

As far as my company is concerend,

I'm with RSA (previously known as Royal & Sun Alliance) Its a 40+ year old company in the middle east only - and UK's oldest known insurer,

Not many wouldve heard of us cuz we never advertised, but now with the new brand RSA Is everywhere.

Comparitively, AXA is our biggest competitor - and one of the most major loss incurring insurance companies -

Most insurance companies are striving for survival, because they invested they're money too fast and without though -- into foriegn investments, stocks and shares -

We were sort of the safe players in the game - we invested all of our money into govenrment bonds & Mutual bonds in the UK, so as to say we didnt have too much loss (apart from the slow in-coming business, which is the same everywhere)

Plans for the company

1. Higher Marketing budget for 2009 :D Which puts me in place to spennnnndd :yuhoo: millions on advertising :excited:

2. Minimum recruitments for 2009 - since we already recruited all our staff for 2009 in mid 2008 (which i guess was a very very smart move)


And oh - just another surprise - to show whats happening in the world

RBS (royal bank of scotland) has plans to lay-off 15% of its investment bankers!!!!!!

Which - is :taser:

Cheers

[alquazi]

1. Higher Marketing budget for 2009 :D Which puts me in place to spennnnndd :yuhoo: millions on advertising :excited:

Would you be interested in sponsoring my racecar in the UAETC ? :please:
It's a very small % of that marketing bubget :drive:

[Nabil]

Would you be interested in sponsoring my racecar in the UAETC ? :please:
It's a very small % of that marketing bubget :drive:

Sponsor me as well :D

alquazi, u've got PM!

[alquazi]

Sponsor me as well :D

alquazi, u've got PM!

There you go,
The RSA Racing team with Alquazi & Nabil Driving E30 M3's
:lol:

[Bashar M.]

There you go,
The RSA Racing team with Alquazi & Nabil Driving E30 M3's
:lol:

me too me too..... ull need E36 m3 in the picture :D