Morning Round-up: Consensus on a bottom?

Tidings that the property and mortgages markets had been through their worst were all over the news today. The nine-month slide of property prices has come to an end in some parts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, The National's Nathalie Gillet and Angela Giuffrida reported. The price rises only apply to completed, and nearly completed property, but they're still surprising a lot of people in the industry who were expecting the gloom to hang around through the rest of the year.


The news put The National's editorial board in an optimistic mood, although the optimism ends with a call for regulation to avoid a repeat of the last nine months.

Gulf News has its own report of property's upswing, while Emirates Business 24/7 reports that banks are restarting mortgage lending.

And as if that weren't enough good news, Ziad Makhzoumi, the chief financial officer handed Arabian Business a twofer: The Burj Dubai will be ready for a soft opening in September, and nobody from Arabtec has died while building the tower.