Dubai developers see negative press reports decline

Sunday, 22 November 2009 6:39 PM

A study into media coverage of the Dubai’s major real estate developers saw negative reports fall considerably by the third quarter of this year.

The global financial crisis has impacted the emirate’s real estate industry, with prices falling up to 50 percent from their high at the end of 2008.

But, as the effects begin to soften and green shoots appear, negative reports of the sector has also waned, according to the results of the Mediastow Q3 report.

The 34-page report looked at media coverage of developers Al Qudra Real Estate, Aldar , Emaar , Sorouh , Dubai Properties, Nakheel, Sama Dubai and Damac.

Some 3,962 articles from 168 publications were monitored between July and September 2009, and stocks movements of Emaar , Aldar Properties and Sorouh were evaluated and correlated with media coverage.

Emaar was the most written about developer in terms of column inches during that time, followed by Sorouh and Aldar . Nakheel had the most coverage in September, followed by Emaar and Aldar .

"The overall volume of coverage has dropped compared to the golden era of the early 2008, but strong signs of recovery are evident,” said Mohamed Elzubeir, head of Mediastow.

“Negative coverage is now confined to the tumbling stocks, and positive coverage is increasing with projects getting back on track.”

Elzubeir said coverage of Damac and Emaar peaked in July, Al Qudra Real Estate, Sama Dubai and Sorouh in August and Aldar Properties , Dubai Properties and Nakheel in September.

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Posted by: His Excellency Dr Paul Sunday, 29 November 2009 8:31 AM[UAE] - UAE

I wonder how the Q4 report is shaping up?

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Posted by: Charlie Wednesday, 25 November 2009 9:51 AM[UAE]

Less negative reports as there as less projects still happening to write about. Nothing more.

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Posted by: ali Tuesday, 24 November 2009 7:48 AM[UAE] - UAE

How much can one read/write abt one particular event. That?s the only reason the negative writing has gone down no one is interested in reading about developers any more. What has not changed is the sentiments of the people, they still feel that Dubai is no more an investment capital of world and this thinking will not change for a long long time.

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Posted by: Andy Monday, 23 November 2009 11:57 PM[UAE] - Taiwan

It's not like Gulf News or Khaleej Times would ever report anything negative about the UAE. Arabian Business week is about the only one other then Bloomberg reporting both positive and negative news.

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Posted by: Paddy Monday, 23 November 2009 10:32 PM[UAE] - UAE

If the negative press has reduced due to genuine reasons like projects getting completed and handed over, new projects getting initiated etc., then it is good for the country's economy. But I sincerely doubt this. Again, in Dubai, whenever there is a talk of economic recovery, its purely based on the real estate sector. It wont be too long before developers start promising the moon again and start the next bubble. Only this time I hope the investors are better informed. The financial sector in Dubai is giving mixed signals. I feel most of the banks have not yet accurately reported their exposure to the troubled Saudi groups (Saad and Al Gosaibi). A report in this website itself puts the exposure at USD 2.9 billion, though details have not been furnished. Also we have not heard much from the banks about the health of their credit card portfolios. (This could be another disaster-in-the-waiting). The overall profitability of Dubai banks in 2009 have been significantly lower. Its high time that Dubai looks to diversify its economy beyond real estate. In any case, the real estate supply will soon become extremely low since creating land by reclamation of land will not be economically viable anymore.

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