A time for change

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Rohan Marwaha, managing director of Cityscape believes that the brand’s upcoming event in Dubai will reflect new confidence in the construction and real estate industries.

Which areas of Dubai are investors targeting most actively?

Every area, whether it is Dubailand, Jumeira Gardens or Downtown Burj Dubai, hold significant value. Obviously these areas, in terms of location, all represent something slightly different. I will say that investors who have been sitting on the fence are now starting to reactivate themselves again. They all need to have confidence that Dubai has the strength to grow and I think developers are beginning to believe this now. With Cityscape coming up, I think there will be an injection of confidence as the event takes place.

Will the attraction from foreign investors towards the Middle East construction market grow in 2010?

A lot of companies are saying that, at the moment, they are heading into rock-bottom in the Middle East markets and Dubai specifically. I for one certainly believe that we are literally on the floor at the moment. But, I think there will be opportunity for things to take off in 2010. There are also other organisations who support this view – Jones Lang LaSalle have recently put out a report on the attractiveness of the Middle East to foreign investors and, looking at long-term prospects, Dubai has a huge amount of potential.

What is your reaction to Nakheel’s and Emaar’s sudden decision to exhibit at Cityscape Dubai after their previous announcement that they will not be participating?

Obviously we are delighted that they are coming back to the event. I don’t want to speak on their behalf because that would be inappropriate, however, I will say that we have been in discussions with them and have worked along side them for several years. We were very excited when they called us to say that they were coming back. We have gone out of our way to make sure we can help them as much as possible.

Due to the crisis, is it less likely that mega-projects will be showcased at Cityscape Dubai this year?

The latest statistics from the Cityscape Intelligence Report we produced with Proleads, which we are about to put out, indicates that at least two thirds of projects are still ongoing in Dubai and this is a very significant figure. If you put this into perspective, it means that only one third of projects are either cancelled or on hold. The majority of ongoing projects will be showcased at Cityscape Dubai. What we don’t expect to see, is many new mega projects launched at the event but the theme of Cityscape this year is completion and delivery of existing projects. There will be some new project announcements but not on a grand scale like we have seen previously.

Most of the big names are now focusing on markets outside Dubai. Do most of the developments showcased at Cityscape reflect this shift in focus?

Cityscape Dubai is truly an international real estate event. Last year it attracted 21,000 international investors and professionals who entered Dubai specifically to attend the event. However, the majority of the floor-space and the themes of Cityscape are focused on Dubai so we expect the investors who come over to be, for the most part, interested in the Dubai real estate market.

How many participants do you expect to see at Cityscape Dubai this year compared to last year?

Last year we had 68,000 visitors. Our current forecasting models for this year put us around 20% to 25% down from last year. I still think this is a significant achievement due to the state of global real estate market. There have been a lot of people who have been made redundant in Europe and the US markets and this will have an effect on the number of visitors coming to the event.

Cityscape has come to be known as the “litmus test” for the real estate industry. Is this a good thing?

If you look at previous years, Cityscape Dubai has always been the litmus test for the Dubai real estate industry and a lot of project announcements have always been held off until Cityscape comes around. The event has created an opportunity for visitors to speak with every player in the market and look at their competitors. Delegates go through a learning experience at the event by sharing knowledge.

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