The world's largest business-to-business real estate development and investment event, the Cityscape Dubai, has finally opened today, with the confidence of success, despite the global economic gloom and negative forecasts being predicted for the Dubai property market.

The Managing Director of Cityscape, Rohan Marwaha, said "With the world facing market uncertainty, we enter a new era in which the Middle East developers are expected to maintain or even increase their presence across the world."

The intensity and scale of the iconic projects, is one of the most impressive property booms in modern history that has kept the UAE and Dubai in particular, on focus worldwide for most of the decade.

However, a report by the property consultants Colliers International stated that Dubai prices would drop by 16 percent during second quarter of 2008, and will remain flat until 2010, which came as bad news just prior to opening of the seventh Cityscape Dubai.

The report suggests that the Dubai market is due for a 10 to 20 percent correction, with the supply outstripping demand.

In the meanwhile, on the stock market front, the shares in Dubai's biggest publicly quoted developer, Emaar, dropped by another 12 percent.

However, irrespective of all this, Cityscape Dubai is confident about the turnout, and hopes to see about 1000 or more exhibitors over 75,000 square meters. According to the organizers of the show, this four-day event taking place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre currently, will attract record numbers.

As a pre-exhibition booster, the leading Dubai-based developer Nakheel, on Sunday, announced plans to build a tower that is more than a kilometre in height, as a part of $38bn project, thereby keeping up the reputation of the emirate as the one with sky-high ambitions.

Labels: Cityscape, Latest News, Property-show