LIVE: Updates From Cityscape 2012 Day 2

16.55
Gulf Business has spoken exclusively with Salem Al Moosa, chairman and CEO of Falconcity of Wonders, who has hinted the total cost for the ‘The World Within A City’ project will be in the region of Dhs20 billion.

16.35
A very senior industry professional has hinted to Gulf Business that many of the investors in Emaar’s latest project, The Address The BVLD, could turn out to be speculators. “The market has to be careful and avoid too much speculative buying so that we don’t return to the problems we had during the crisis,” he said.

Emaar said that it sold all of the development’s serviced apartments on the first day of sale. Are Dubai’s notorious speculators back?

15.30
Gulf Business has been listening to His Excellency Engineer Mohammed Al Darraji, the Iraqi Minister of Housing and Construction, as he reveals Iraq is in ‘serious talks’ with Damac to help build three million housing units over the next five years. Al Darraji also said the country is looking at a joint venture with Emaar to be one of the main developers and is currently at the memorandum of understanding(MoU) stage.

14.40
Investors in Dubai lost billions of dollars during the financial crisis/real estate crash mainly because of the rampant speculative activity in off-plan property buying. But all the experts we have spoken to seem to believe that speculation is a part of any property market in the world and that off-plan is now slowly but surely coming back to the market.

“Speculators in the market make it work,” says Nick Maclean from CBRE.

Gulf Business is now off to hear the Iraqi Minister of Construction and Housing, Mohammed Al Darraji, speak about how his country is planning to rebuild its real estate market, and produce some three million housing units over the next five years. Will Iraq’s prospects tempt Gulf investors?

12.30
Gulf Business has been speaking with Paul Preston, director and head of IP Global, Middle East, who has revealed the property investment company is looking to open new regional offices in Qatar and Oman. It would seem a wise move given the company’s recent report showing 18 per cent of all purchases in prime central London in 2011/2012 came from the MENA region, with a 26 per cent rise year-on-year for Q1. Read what he had to say here.

10.45
Damac Properties has so far been one of the more vocal names this week – though they haven’t made the biggest announcements. Senior vice president Niall McLoughlin hailed yesterday as the busiest opening day the show has experienced since 2008 saying he was “overwhelmed with the response to our serviced apartment offering.”

Things seem to have started just as positively for the developer today, announcing construction of its luxury Al Jawharah Residences Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has reached the 28th floor.

10.00
Day two of Cityscape Global has begun, and it certainly feels a lot quieter than yesterday. If you missed the news from day one – including announcements from Meydan and Deyaar, insight from CBRE and Damac, gossip from Meraas and the arrival of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, then head over to yesterday’s live blog and bring yourself up to date.

Today Gulf Business has some great interviews lined up so be sure to keep checking this page for the latest news and announcements from the second day of Dubai’s biggest real estate event.

For news and views from day one, click here.