Dubai leads global property slump

27 May 2009

The continuing global downturn has taken its toll on the property hot spots of the world with Dubai, Latvia and Singapore topping the list of the property bubble bursts, as per the survey data released by estate agent Knight Frank.

The UK-based global property consultancy reported that 72 per cent of the 46 markets surveyed, reported a slump in property values over the last year.

Nick Barnes, head of international research at Knight Frank, said, "The world's housing markets remain under intense pressure with little real evidence of any of the hoped for 'green shoots' and even the improvement in performance shown in some countries in the last quarter may yet turn out to be a false dawn."

"The inescapable trend is that the worst and most widespread economic recession since the 1930s continues to batter housing markets across the globe,'' Barnes added.

Dubai, the second largest of the seven emirates of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and not so long ago, home of the construction boom recorded an astounding 40 per cent slump in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the previous quarter.

The year-on-year data also show a huge drop of 32 per cent, second only to the East European country, Latvia which registered a fall of 36 per cent. (Q-o-Q data for Latvia is not yet available).