Dubai First SEO

Dubai Icon Burj Al Arab

Okay it’s a rewrite of the classic “Home, sweet home”, but Dubai is our home these years.

I have just come back to Dubai from 1½ months spend in Europe to visit customers and also enjoying a weeks holiday in south France outside Nice. It’s a true pleasure to escape the heat in July and August. I have never been a fan of the above 40 degrees Dubai summers. However, now things will only get better. Soon the temperature will go below 40 during the daytime and we will have a wonderful 8 months untill June next year. Isn’t life just great?

Are people queing to get out of Dubai?

Just this week we saw four moving trucks emptying apartments in the tower we live in in JBR in Dubai.

Many people who have lost their jobs and looking for new ones in Dubai, have given themselves until the end of the school year to find new ones. Unsuccessfully, then now it is the time to leave for them, as theirs kids school year is over. It seems that that time is now.

My wife spoke to someone related to Emirates Airlines in Dubai recently. He said that Emirates have sold 75.000 one way tickets out of Dubai this summer. And that Etihad (the national airline in Abu Dhabi) had sold 70.000 one way tickets out of UAE. Then on top of that you can ad the 100 other airlines flying in and out of Dubai and the rest of the UAE.

Remember the song: “Should I stay or should I go now?”. Well.. we love it here. Things are fast becoming cheaper and the infrastructure is great and getting better. Dubai has a lot going for it and will bounce back in a few years. It’s just too good a place to set up a business: no taxes and excellent climate.

When everthing else fails, turn to humor. Even a small amount of humor can make an otherwise bad day look brighter. And at the request of my partner Anders, I’ve decided to make another post with these SEO jokes:

Q. What are SEOs good for?
A. They make used car salesmen look good.

Q. What is the definition of SEO SPAM?
A. Site Positioning Above Mine

-SEOs are safe from the threat of automation taking over their professions. No one would build a robot to do nothing.

-Two SEOs were walking along negotiating a case. “Look,” said one, “let’s be honest with each other.” “Okay, you first,” replied the other. End of discussion.

Enjoy

Dubai Marina with Jumeirah Beach Residence and Palm Jumeirah in the back ground has become a favourite place to live for expats in Dubai.

Just a quick “heads up” on the real estate market outside the SEO and SEM world in Dubai and UAE.

The real estate market continues to fall in Dubai and the rest of the UAE. The main cause currently is the banking sectors unwillingness to lend money to people that wants to buy real estate. The effect right now is dramatically lower prices than the 2008 summer. Many places prices have actually dropped 50%. Projects that are not close to finished have fallen even further due to insecurity about their true handover date.

This actually creates a lot of bargains in the market, where people with cash really can pick up good deals. Deals that will increase in value once the lending comes back to the banking sector in full force.

Two of the biggest real estate agents in Dubai are Better Homes and Premier Real Estate.

People love to hack on Dubai, but Dubai is fast again becoming more attractive with lower prices on housing etc.

Dubai experienced extreme growth up untill September 2008. Now like everywhere else the credit crunch is having its toll and the economy is cooling down fast. A lot of people love the fact, that this crazy place, where nothing was impossible and where growth exceeded normal expectations is finally showing signs of being “normal”. That’s right – Dubai has a huge real estate price correction like everywhere else.

To be honest, Dubai had become to expensive to fast. People on average income and kids no longer saw a economic benefit of staying in Dubai. Instead they went back home to countries like Sweden, where great education and health care is free. For a family with one income and a couple of kids, things just didn’t make financial sense anymore.

Another thing was the real estate boom. It meant that a lot of people made a lot of money very quick. This money went back into renting nice big villas and buying big cars. Many of the nice homes on Palm Jumeriah was rented be real estate sales people. With the credit crunch and the bubble deflation all this money disappeared and really took the pressure back of the prices on pretty much everything – especially real estate and hotel rooms have become a lot more affordable. In half a year some Villas have dropped more than 50% and the same with hotel prices.

This is good news for everyone that wasn’t making their living from the real estate sector. I feel sorry for the people that don’t have the same fortune anymore, but for the rest it means that Dubai right now fast is becoming more attractive again. Okay, so it might not be 2004 or 2005 prices yet. There is still some way to go. But the way prices are falling right now, then probably in 2010 Dubai will again make a lot of sense for a lot of people to live in. When that happens real estate will again start to become an attractive investment and the cycle can start over again. Hopefully we all learned something in the mean time.

Dubai Marina with Jumeirah Beach Residence and Palm Jumeirah in the back ground has become a favourite place to live for expats in Dubai.