Property developers granted payment extensions

In order to put an end to the confusion and panic that is currently existing in the market, the master developers are said to be offering payment extensions to property developers in Dubai.

A developer in Dubai, when speaking to the media, revealed that when they requested their master developer to defer their land payment, they were readily granted a three-month extension.

The extension granted was for a plot of land on the waterfront development, for which, the developer had remitted 50 percent of total value at the time of purchase.

In the meantime, the infrastructure projects in Dubai, such as the plans by Roads and Transport Authority and the new Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, would all proceed as stipulated in Dubai Strategic Plan 2015.

According to Nasser Al Shaikh, the Director General of Dubai Department of Finance, a growth rate of 11 percent annually, is expected until 2015, but with the current situation, Dubai would continue to witness economic growth, although at lower rates.

The government and financial institutions are getting highly transparent in their operations and transactions. This is more evident, with Dubai initiating new laws to regulate its banking and property sectors, and this is no-doubt a positive outcome of the global crisis.

Property lenders Amlak and Tamweel to unite

According to Amlak Finance and Tamweel, two Dubai-based property finance groups with total assets of around 7 billion dollars, have begun a merger process.

They said that the merging of the two largest finance groups under the supervision of UAE Real Estate Bank will create the largest real estate finance institution in the country.

In the first half of 2008, Amlak Finance had assets of 14.2 billion dirhams (3.86 billion dollars)
and Tamweel's assets were worth 10.8 billion dirhams (2.94 billion dollars), giving a combined value of 25 billion dirhams or 6.8 billion dollars, WAM reported.

News that the merger process is underway, after the idea was mooted in early October, came on the eve of the start of a new stock market week in the Emirates, where property stocks have fallen sharply in recent weeks amid the global economic crisis.