Dubai's Emaar Q4 falls 28% on higher costs, expenses

Emaar Properties, Dubai's largest real estate developer, said fourth quarter profit fell 28 percent on the back of increased costs.

The company said in a regulatory filing to the Dubai Financial Market that net income in the last quarter of 2012 decreased to AED512m (US$139m) from AED716m in the same period a year earlier, the company said. Revenue in the period climbed 20 percent to AED2.7bn.

The developer of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, said full-year profits increased 18 percent to AED2.1bn (US$577m) from AED1.8bn in 2011.

“With Dubai restating its credentials as a global business and tourism hub, Emaar capitalised on the city's resurgence by investing in creating prime real estate assets and strengthening our shopping malls and hospitality business," chairman Mohamed Alabbar said.

Dubai's stock market has increased to a 34-month high on the back of the country's property market rebounding after a corporate debt crisis in 2008 and ensuing property market collapse.

The economy of the UAE, the second largest in the Arab world, grew about 4 percent last year down from about 5.2 percent in 2011, according to International Monetary Fund estimates.