Foreign investors recognize Dubai as a good place to buy property

Cityscape Global, the trade show for the property and real estate industry, has made a habit of grabbing headlines over the years. In the period leading up to the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis, the show was the apparent staging post for speculative schemes that were bigger, better and taller than anything that had ever been built before.

A new realism has settled over the show in recent times and it is one that all of us should welcome. While much of the same excitement courses through the exhibition floor, driven by the slick sales patter of marketing professionals and buttressed by the expensively produced and intricately detailed models of proposed schemes, a change in tone is perceptible. Where once the currency of Cityscape was architectural marvels, now it is more focused on delivering buildings and residences that make commercial sense and meet genuine market needs. The art of the improbable has been usurped by certainty and completion dates. Read more