The number of companies showcasing property at this year's Cityscape has increased by a quarter on last year.
More than 280 exhibitors will be present, according to the event organiser Informa — a 25.5 per cent increase on the 223 which rented stands a year ago.
Informa said that this year’s exhibition will also take up 24 per cent more space than the previous year with exhibitors filling 31,000 square metres of the Dubai World Trade Centre halls rather than the 25,000 sq metres of a year ago.
The news comes despite reports that property price growth in the emirate is slowing.
The number of visitors Informa expects to attend the show is also set to increase from 32,500 last year to more than 35,000 in 2014.
The growth means that on whatever basis you measure it, the show — the 13th in its history — will be the largest for five years.
“We are seeing a healthy increase in all the key indicators compared with last year,” said Wouter Molman, the director of Cityscape Group.
“There is no doubt that price growth in the first half of 2014 has been less than that of 2013, but we think that is a good thing because the previous growth levels were unsustainable. Certainly there has been an increase in the people wanting to take stands at Cityscape and we currently have a waiting list of people wanting to take space,” he added.
Last week Colliers reported that house price growth in Dubai was stabilising with average prices increasing just 3 per cent in the second quarter of 2014, down from 5 per cent at the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 following the introduction of strict new mortgage lending caps late last year.
“Dubai’s property market made world headlines this year with residential property prices increasing by 20 per cent year-on-year,” said Ian Albert, regional director at Colliers International. “The pace of growth over the last quarter has slowed considerably to a more modest level.”
DTZ estimates that prices grew 2 per cent during July and August to an average price of Dh16,050 per sq metre — a 34 per cent increase on a year earlier.
Fears that Dubai’s property market could be overheating have drawn startling parallels with Cityscape 2008, when thousands of visitors flocked to the exhibition to slap down deposit cheques on off-plan property.
However, Informa said that this year’s exhibition will still be about half the size of the show that year, when 81,162 visitors attended, which took up 74,240 sq metres. That included all of the Dubai World Trade Centre exhibition halls apart from the Sheikh Maktoum Hall, which had not been built then.
After that, as prices tumbled, Cityscape scaled back drastically. By 2011 just 17,000 visitors were registered to attend the show and the emphasis was shifted to include more overseas exhibitors.
As Dubai’s property market showed signs of recovery in 2012 Cityscape numbers have increased steadily and the show has again taken on a more domestic focus.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
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Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 366Nm
Price: Dh200,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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