Sorouh Real Estate is now offering the lowest mortgages in the country for a few months as part of a bid to rejuvenate the sales market in Abu Dhabi. Here is a chart of the offerings available from banks in Abu Dhabi. Thank you to Chris Dommett of John Charcol Dubai for this helpful data.

Michael Lunjevich, a partner at Hadef & Partners, put out a report this morning on the regulations for Law 13, which have yet to be published in the Official Gazette but have been informally given to the law firm. These regulations will have major impacts on the property sector. They hold both the developer and buyer accountable and give much-needed clarity on legal issues that are gripping the whole sector.

In last weekend's Review section, there was a beautifully-written study of the diverging property sector of Cairo by Ursula Lindsey. One one side are the ashwa'iyat - the informal slums that are home to as many as 10 million people - and on the other side are the "exclusive new private developments, with names like country clubs or bad discos - Utopia, Le Reve, Dreamland, Qattamiya Heights, Palm Hills, Belle Ville - and slogans like 'The Egypt of My Desires'".

"One advertisement, overlooking dilapidated buildings in the centre of town, simply asks: 'Why Are You Here?'"

Photo caption: New Cairo. October 12, 2009. A worker lays cement curb blocks for a roadway fronting new development in a fast-growing suburb of Cairo. Dana Smillie for The National

Ms Lindsey writes: "Cairo's future, it seems, lies outside the city's boundaries, in the desert - where it can be built from scratch. Today the outer edges of the city are one vast construction site, full of subdivisions where empty million-dollar villas stand among the sand dunes, and giant gated communities that promise a luxurious escape from Cairo's pollution and friction."

Asteco put out an interesting historical account of rental rates in Dubai today as part of their 25th anniversary. The company started in 1985 with the Al Muraqqabat apartments as its first leasing and management contract.

Back then, rents for a studio in the building were Dh9,500 a year; one-bedroom apartments were Dh11,000; two-bedrooms were Dh17,000; and three-bedrooms were Dh25,000. For the next 10 years, "there was little, if any, change in rents of the properties even though Dubai suffered economic hardship due to lack of trade during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988".

Then things started heating up in 1995 until 1998, when the world was hit by the Asian financial crisis, declining oil prices and the dot com bubble. The following few years saw even more declines.

Photo caption: The Al Muraqqabat apartment building in the old days. Courtesy of Asteco

But in 2007, something got out of whack. Demand began outpacing supply. Economic growth was gaining momentum. In 2008, with oil prices peaking at $147 a barrel, a studio apartment in Al Muraqqabat hit Dh36,000.

Then, as current residents are well aware, the property bubble burst in late 2008. A studio in the old building has fallen back to about Dh24,000 by 2010.

A delightful little look at rents from the perspective of a small building in Deira. I'm sure the fluctuations for other parts of town would be even more dramatic.

Here's a quote from Elaine Jones, chief executive of Asteco:

"The varying rent levels over the past 25 years have reflected the impact of fluctuations in the world economy, oil prices, wars and conflicts as well as the effects of more recent heated growth in the local economy... We have been involved with many of the buildings that have shaped and defined Dubai and the UAE and the ups and downs of these property prices provide the documentary evidence that we are living in a global village." 

This weekend, The National carried a story about the growing sense of community in Jumeirah Lake Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road. The forest of towers have long been cursed by a very low tenancy rate in the offices and a less desirable residential scene than just across the road at Jumeirah Beach Residences.

With the metro station about to open in April, tenants are "seeing signs of life amid the area's chronically congested roads and ubiquitous construction debris", Hugh Naylor writes. Still, business is slow for retailers and there are major issues with getting around at rush hour.

Dubai has recently been at the centre of some excellent reporting from Andrew Higgins, the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist currently working for the Washington Post (formerly of the WSJ). The stories revolve around the Dubai property market and how millions of dollars from Afghanistan and Azerbaijan ended up in places like the Palm Jumeirah. Not everything appears above board - for instance, $44 million worth of villas are in the name of the president of Azerbaijan's son, according to one story.

All three should be required reading for anyone trying to get a grasp on the economic dynamics of the region: money is churned hand-over-fist in places like Kabul and it ends up in luxury property in the Emirates.

Photo caption: Feb 7. Lion statues outside the entrance of one of the villa on frond K at Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

As the Emirates spreads its wealth among the population, life is almost beginning to feel a bit like a 1950s-era movie. (Photo courtesy of Sorouh Real Estate)

People here love the idea of the suburbs, with its cookie-cutter homes slightly different than the next. Everyone has their small square of green lawn and enough garage space for two SUVs. The latest example of this appears to be the Alghadeer project by Sorouh Real Estate. Today, the company sent out a photo of its first two model homes and it struck me as having a resemblance to the great American sprawl outside places like Phoenix and Dallas.

The project is in Saih Sdeirah, located in a patch of flat desert half way between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Residents of this little township will have an interesting life. I'm sure it will be one of the quieter parts of the country. I look forward to seeing how it develops.

Buried deep in the recent IMF report about Dubai is a very interesting nugget. Describing how the property bubble got out of hand, the IMF team say that the Dubai authorities are looking at other ways to limit "renewed speculative pressures in the real estate sector":

• "More frequent and closer monitoring of bank practices related to this sector;
• "The possible introduction of a capital gains tax on property transactions (registered by the Dubai Land Department) and on securities that derive their value from real property;
• A more active Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) as concerns compliance with Anti-Money Laundering regulations by property developers, brokers and other intermediaries. This could help slow down transactions that do not require local financing."

Obviously, the large font is my emphasis. But this seems like a major change on the horizon that would have far reaching consequences for property investors and home buyers in Dubai. We're unlikely to find out from Rera what the plan is for the time being. The regulators of the property sector in Dubai have pulled out of the public sphere for the last year.

Blue City, Oman's largest and most ambitious property development, is looking increasingly tenuous as it struggles with an ownership dispute, low sales and repeated failures to meet milestones set out in its bond prospectus. Last week, we wrote about how Axis Capital - the insurer of $399 million worth of A1 senior secured notes issued by Blue City - had written off an undisclosed amount in the fourth quarter that the insurer said would be "sufficient to bring finality to our involvement" with the project.

Moody's Investor Service announced yesterday that it was downgrading those same A1 notes to B3 and placed under review for possible downgrade. The notes had been downgraded on July 14 to Ba3 from Ba1. B3 is classified by Moody's as "speculative" and "subject to high credit risk".

Here is the rationale from Moody's:

"The performance of the underlying development project has further deteriorated and remains well below Moody's expectations with little prospect of near term recovery given the continued stagnation of regional property markets and the delays accumulated to date. Despite the recent initiatives by the company management in terms of sales and marketing, the net proceeds from sales of residential units amounted as of November 2009 investor report, to USD 74.66 million versus targeted sales of USD 860 million. As a result, the residential sales tests 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been failed and stand at 8.68% versus the threshold ratio of 87.5% for residential sales test 1, 82.5% for residential sales test 2, 80% for residential sales test 3 and 75% for residential sales test 4."

Zaha Hadid's latest project is the King Abdullah II House of Culture & Art, which includes a 1,600-seat concert theatre, 400-seat theatre, educational centre and galleries. Here's her explanation for the design:

"Petra is an astonishing example of the wonderful interplay between architecture and nature, as well as the intricate complexity and elegance of natural forms - the rose-colored mountain walls have been eroded, carved and polished to reveal the astonishing strata of sedimentation. We have applied these principles to articulate the public spaces within the centre, with eroded interior surfaces that extend into the public plaza in front of the building."