Besides a consumer driven economy, there is really nothing to do in dubai. And if you are a single guy there...forgetaboutit. Of the total population, 73 per cent or 911,000 are male and 27 per cent or 330,000 are female(2006 statistics). So 3 guys for every girl there, not to mention that its an arab country, so you can guess that at least 50% of those women are never let out of the house. But what if you are already married and that doesnt concern you? It doesnt? What if you have a daughter...do you really want to let her out into the street where 10 desperate men are going to jump all over her? its no wonder they dont let their women out alone onto the streets!
Commercial Real estate is done with, prices are going to continue to fall as more businesses file chapter 11. As for manhattan real estate, the days of paying one the highest prices per square foot for both residential and commercial ARE OVER. Prices in residential and commercial are going to drop another 20-25% over the next 18 months. Manhattan RE actually stayed strong while most of the US real estate was falling apart, now that major companies like BSC and LEH and nearly every bank asking for a bailout, prices on real estate in manhatten are going to stay weak for years. All that bonus money and those high corporate jobs on wallstreet is what fueled manhattan for years, all that is disappearing.