Chowrangi

Practically everyone I know is involved in the mad rush to buy a piece of Dubai, even if it’s a small studio apartment which can’t accommodate more than two people. So much money has flowed out of Pakistan in recent months to Dubai that the property market in the country has declined by upto 30%. Somehow, everyone seems to be under the impression that property prices in Dubai will escalate rapidly in the coming two or three months.

It’s just like what happened in the past in the Karachi Stock Exchange, and thousands of investors found themselves bankrupt after the market crashed. But apparently those who invest in the U.A.E. property market believe that prices will go on rising indefinitely. There is nothing to support this belief, since the population of Dubai has not increased by leaps and bounds to justify so much construction activity. One fine day, when the buildings are complete, owners of apartments and offices will find that there are no buyers and that is when the panic will set in. But then, greedy people are blind, and never listen to reason. The only people who will get rich (besides the brokers) are those who sell their properties and get out of the market before the bubble bursts.

Other posts by Shakir Lakhani

• No limit on foreign exchange taken out of Pakistan - November 12th, 2008
• Some questions about the "forex" scandal - November 11th, 2008
• Enjoying life after sixty - November 7th, 2008
• A Hussein in the White House - November 5th, 2008
• Why are poor Pakistanis always punished? - October 31st, 2008
• Pakistan's Economic Crisis: we're responsible - October 29th, 2008
• How Wall Street operates - October 23rd, 2008
• We’ll always have corruption - October 19th, 2008
• If Pakistan goes to war with United States of America - October 9th, 2008
• Killing of Christians in Secular India - October 1st, 2008