Dubai property prices declined 19% in fourth quarter, new report says

A new report from Citigroup's private bank ranking global cities on "economic activity", "political power", "knowledge and influence" and "quality of life" has put Dubai 28th, ahead of Miami, Cairo, Boston, Tel Aviv and Mumbai but behind Moscow, Shanghai, Singapore, Istanbul, Hong Kong and Beijing. London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles topped the list.

Dubai got its highest marks in the knowledge and influence and economic activity categories.

The report, aimed at wealthy global investors, estimates that property prices in Dubai dipped by 19 per cent in the final quarter of last year. That puts was the third-biggest decline in the world, behind Hong Kong and the UK (excluding London). But it also estimates that Dubai property prices in 2008 as a whole climbed 10.8 per cent, the seventh-best performance in the world. Dubai property prices showed by far the largest contrast between full-year and fourth-quarter performance, according to the report.

First reaction: oh boy. Not another estimate of Dubai property price declines in the fourth quarter of last year. Everybody and his brother wants in on this game, it would seem. Second reaction: it's actually less dire than many of the other hit-Dubai-with-a-hammer stuff we've seen. Third reaction: investors in the UAE's property stocks (and the properties themselves) probably won't be consoled by this.

Excerpts from the report where Dubai is mentioned (no score was computed for Abu Dhabi or any other cities in the UAE) after the jump...

Re: Property in emerging markets:

The most resilient prime markets last year tended to be found in the emerging economies - notably Moscow (+13%), Jakarta (+18%) and Bangkok (+23%). Even Dubai, which has been tipped for a crash for almost as long as it has being developing, managed to record growth of 11% in 2008, although by Q4 prices were slipping substantially and our data
revealed a 19% decline between Q3 and Q4.

And re: quality of life improvements:

The quality of life elements displayed with such success in Germany, Switzerland and Canada are elements that cities in the Middle East and Asia are working hard to compete directly on. Despite significant investment, Dubai (28) struggles to score well on this measure, however we expect the city to climb further in the future.

The crux of the matter for many cities in emerging economies is that while they have benefited from government investment in infrastructure and facilities, issues surrounding personal freedoms and safety, as well as broader political tensions, remain stumbling blocks to their development as world cities. Despite this, we expect that the ranking for locations like Dubai, Sao Paulo (24), Moscow (20), Mumbai (39) and Shanghai (21) will improve over the next few years, as economic growth and development continue.