It’s been a year since I sat shocked in my London flat watching televised footage of Israeli bombs dropping on Lebanon.
The 34-day war between the conflicting countries stunned the world, and killed more than a thousand people, most of whom were Lebanese. It also severely damaged Lebanese infrastructure; and was estimated to have displaced 974,184 Lebanese nationals.
This month Arabian Property brings you a regional report from Lebanon, a country which despite ongoing political uncertainty is experiencing a surging property market.
Our report comes from Dubai One TV Emirates News anchor Ramia Farrage who found some analysts are putting the total volume of real estate transactions in Lebanon last year at US$3bn.
Meanwhile, Annika Vaughan reports this month on the frenetic development of Oman, another Middle Eastern country fighting back after a difficult year. Cyclone Gonu hit the coast of Oman in June, killing at least 49 people and causing widespread destruction estimated at US$3.9bn.
Despite this blow, Vaughan writes of a country facing massive increases across its sectors, from real estate, to industrial to burgeoning tourism. As Vaughan says, Oman is now in the spotlight.
To add to our regional coverage, I’ve spotlighted Saudi Arabia this month, a flourishing economy which has barely looked back from a massive stock market correction in February 2006.
The plight of accommodation restrictions for Dubai singles or ‘bachelors’ is examined and check out our Cityscape preview with group director Rohan Marwaha.
Next month we’ll be reporting on the movement of UAE-based developers into the vast India property market, so look out for that issue and more Cityscape news.
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