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Dubai's property sales to touch Dh717 billion in ’08

DUBAI — The volume of property sales in Dubai is poised to rise as more global investors, shifting their focus away from markets hit by credit crunch, seek to enter the Gulf markets, a leading global property investment expert said.

Dubai, which registered the greatest improvement in real estate transparency globally over the past two years, is projected to record a 55.2 per cent surge in property deals to hit Dh717 billion in 2008 from Dh462 billion in 2007, said Blair Hagkull, managing-director of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), MENA, a leading real estate investment and advisory firm.

"With credit crisis hitting real estate markets in the US and Europe, many investors are eyeing Gulf markets, particularly Dubai," said Hagkull. He was speaking to reporters at the launch of a new study — the Real Estate Transparency Report 2008 for the MENA region — which ranked Dubai as the region's top most transparent market.

Hagkull said Dubai's position as the most transparent of the MENA markets placed it ahead of other emerging economies such as those of the BRIC Markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

"Better than China, India and most of Russia, Dubai's transparency index score exceeds the other BRIC markets," he told reporters. JLL is an investment adviser with a track-record of working on projects worth $200 billion in MENA.

Transparent markets as those that are open and easier to do business with the components of transparency encompassing transaction processes, the regulatory and legal environment, market fundamentals and performance measurements.

issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com