New Dubai real estate projects 'are worth billions'
The plethora of new building projects that sprung up across Dubai in 2012 were worth billions of dollars.New figures provided by Citi have highlighted "tremendous growth" in the emirate's real estate sector throughout the year.According to Emirates 24/7, new properties were valued at $110 billion (AED 404 billion) in November alone.The company confirmed that Dubai had now overtaken Saudi Arabia in the early stage building sector and the number of projects being sanctioned across the Middle East and North Africa region has risen by 17 per cent since October.A number of mega projects were announced towards the end of 2012 and these obviously helped to swell Citi's figures.Indeed, details of the mammoth Mohammad Bin Rashid City were revealed in November and this development will include the world's largest mall, more than 100 hotels and a host of entertainment facilities.The Citi report suggested this was the first time since the first quarter of 2010 that Dubai has shown sustained growth in the number of real estate schemes getting underway.It read: "The market is up six per cent year-on-year to $614 billion. This is driven by the recently announced Dubai mega real estate projects."The most interesting point to note here is that UAE projects now stand at $199 billion, up 127 per cent from October's $88 billion."A string of high-profile projects were shelved when the global economy took a turn for the worse.Although the UAE still tops the charts for the number of delayed and cancelled developments, it seems that many construction companies have resurrected their previous plans as investors are now far more confident about the state of the market.Jones Lang LaSalle stated earlier this week that people are predominantly securing Dubai property investments in more exclusive parts of town.The firm told the same news provider that Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina are all very popular areas at the moment and this is a trend that is likely to continue in 2013.Looking for real estate in Dubai? Let The First Group help you out