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MEED Real Estate Summit Told Affordable Housing, Quality Offices and Luxury Apartments Are Key Opportunities in Dubai

 

Dubai, UAE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/28/2015 --Speakers at the MEED Real Estate Summit said that housing that is affordable to mid-low income residents, international standard offices and genuine luxury apartments were among the best opportunities in the Dubai real estate market.

"The most important contribution to improving the transport infrastructure would be affordable housing," said Phidar Advisory managing director Jesse Downs. "This is an investment in your infrastructure because it takes people off the roads. And we can achieve good returns in genuine luxury."

"One of the intended legacies of World Expo 2020 will be in mid-market housing," said Currie & Brown director Erland Rendall. "Jebel Ali is a huge source of employment for people living in affordable housing. But a lot of the affordable housing is a long way away. The key barrier is getting land at prices that make sense. That is where government or larger masterplan developers can come in and insist that some of the land is made available for affordable housing."

JLL chief executive officer Alan Robertson said that there was a serious shortage of office space that meets the needs of international corporations.

"The market is fixing that," Robertson said. "But you still have 20-30 per cent of strata offices that were badly conceived in the first place. We are now seeing the pipeline of truly modern office buildings. It's taken time because the market was in a difficult place until 2012."

About The Real Estate Summit
The Real Estate Summit is being held ahead of the opening of the MEED Destination Dubai 2020 conference. Silver sponsor is PWC; Bronze Sponsor is Mashreq and Faithful & Gould and thinkwell are conference sponsors.

Photocaption
Experts discuss real estate opportunities and challenges in Dubai at MEED Destination Dubai 2020 conference (from left): Jesse Downs, Managing Director, Phidor Advisory; Alan Robertson, Chief Executive Officer, Jones Lang LaSalle; Erland Rendall, Director,Currie & Brown; Richard Thompson, Editorial Director, MEED