The rent prices for the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa in Dubai have gone down about 50%, amid the real estate crash in Dubai. 825 of 900 luxury apartment still remain empty after one year of completion of the building.
The cost of a studio unit with wooden floors, marble fixtures and floor to ceiling windowsn has gone deon from about $3000/month to $1800/month. Two bedroom units have gone down from $7180 to $4300.
It cost about $950,000 to purchase a 1 bedroom apartment in 2008 and f you purchased a unit prior to completion, you could get them as low as $750,000. Most current owners are holding on to their units and are not worried about the price drops, as this is the most well known property in Dubai and prices should recover quicker than any other property once economy gets better in Dubai.
Some see opportunities in the depressed markets. Savvy investors and institutional investors have started buying propertie in Dubai as investment.
Burj Kalifa also features a one-of-a-kind Armani hotel.
Prices of Luxury Homes in London, UK have dropped 3 months in a row as of September, as there are less buyers willing to pay high prices and more luxury homes on the market than ever. It seems economy has effected the rich as well.
Prices of houses, condos or apartments that were over 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) have dropped 0.2 percent from August.
“There is a more cautious approach from potential buyers” after gains of 23 percent in the past 18 months, Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research, said in the statement. “Looking ahead, the danger for vendors is in overly ambitious pricing. Most agents confirm that asking prices are currently 5 percent to 10 percent above realistic levels.”
Last year more foreign buyers had come into London as prices had dropped for 15 months in a row, which prompted more luxury home owners to sell their properties. Since last year the number of new foreign buyers has dropped 13% and the number of new homes in the market has increased by same percentage.
Mercer’s 2010 Cost of Living survey has ranked the top 10 most expensive cities in the world as follows:
1. Tokyo
2. Osaka
3. Moscow
4. Geneva
5. Hong Kong
6. Zurich
7. Copenhagen
8. New York
9. Beijing
10. Singapore
The Mercer survey covers five continents and 214 cities. It measures the comparative cost of 200+ items, including food, housing, clothing, transport, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey.
New York is used as the base city for the index. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar. The cost of housing plays an important part in determining where cities are ranked.
Wealthy Greeks having been buying luxury houses in UK and now account for 6% of luxury house purchases over 2 Million Pounds (about $3 Million US Dollars), double the average of the past three years, as they try to protect their assets from the country’s debt crisis.
“There has been a real trend for wealthy Greek families to invest in U.K. property for a variety of reasons, but the safe haven driver is a big one,” Rupert des Forges, a partner in Knight Frank’s Knightsbridge office, said in the statement. “Greek buyers have been especially active and have been competing hard for the limited number of high-quality properties currently available.”
However, buyers of such properties should note that most luxury properties in the market are often 20+ years old and are in need of major renovations, specially in energy saving improvements. “In the past few months we have seen a surge in business, from several new luxury home owners in the UK” says Jason Smith, a representative of Central Scotland Joinery, who supply and fit conservatories, doors and double glazing in the UK and Scotland markets.
The crisis in Greece has raised questions for investors about whether the euro can survive the most serious crisis in its short history. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that the future of the euro is at stake, as she tries to overcome domestic resistance to the billions of euros Germany is contributing to the bail-out.
Unlike many other large cities across the world, the real estate market in Mexico City hasn’t experienced an especially sharp downturn. While prices have dropped from their peak last year, the loss of value has been small, in the neighborhood of 2.5% to 6.5%. Because the market is largely both local and cash-based (the country doesn’t have a formal mortgage system), the downturn in the global economy has had less of an impact here.
However, the decrease in value of the peso means that real estate in Mexico City is now more affordably priced for foreign buyers looking to take advantage of a relatively stable market. Many affluent neighborhoods, such as Polanco and Coyoacán, are particularly attractive to buyers from North America, Spain, France, and China, among others. The prices in neighborhoods such as these start as low as $200 per square foot, though they rise quickly from that point.
