Recent reports indicate that Dubai is currently offering discounts on property purchases in lieu or attracting new investments to the area. This could potentially mean a strong option for those who are looking at lucrative real estate investments overseas in order to improve their portfolio and give themselves an alternative to the standard home purchase locally.

In order to recognise the greatest gains individuals should have already been an investor in Dubai sometime in the past, however this is not a prerequisite as costs on many housing developments are being reduced across the board for all buyers. The goal of this movement is to reduce the current prices of real estate in some areas back to the prices they were in 2005-2006, effectively cutting the cost per square metre by up to 50% in some cases.

For those looking to take on a mortgage for investments this is also an excellent opportunity as the reduced costs are making for exceptionally attractive deals for external investment and especially those who have had previous investment dealings in Dubai as those are the ones who are most likely to receive the best dealers from current developers.

Be wary when looking toward refinancing in the area, however, if you are a current home owner as the comparable value of real estate will be dropping significantly which will have a negative impact upon your real estate’s value, so consider waiting until later months if you can afford it. On the other hand given the potential value of the property at stake it may be exceptionally easy to obtain an overseas mortgage for investment purposes, so bear this in mind as well as the property being offered right now could easily double in price once again in the coming years as it returns to normal value.

CB Richard Ellis Middle East recently issued a report on the real estate markets in Dubak.

As was expected, the real estate markets in Dubai continue to have declinging prices, but the rate of decline is slowing. The latest analysis reports that the bottom could be reached before the end of this year

At this time, property investors are leasing rather than selling.

Office space currently outstrips demand In the commercial sector, because new completions add further pressure to existing stock. Because developers are both slowing down some construction projects and halting others, several projects have been pushed back by months if not years.

Companies that are looking for new office space are typically renting out of olde buidilngs, because of reduced setup costs. Therefore, vacancy rates in newer locations remain high.

An expatriate workforce has left residential properties empty. This  has resulted in a sharp drop in lease rates for residential apartments.

Bur Dubai, Deira and Karama, which previously had high occupancy ratios, now have greater numbers of  vacant apartments in both older and newer buildings.

An important factor is the next six months will be the amount of property space coming onto the market . The impact is expected to result in further competition between landlords and greater incentives for tenants, the CB Richard Ellis Middle East  report concludes.

In a report published today by international property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, the cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Cairo and Casablanca are tapped to be the most likely to attract long term capital to their real estate markets.

For some time, long term investors have been reluctant to invest in the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) region, because of the short term speculative mentality of both investors and develop ers there.

‘Creating the right environment to attract long term investment into Mena real estate markets remains a work in progress. While few of the necessary requirements have yet to be fully met, significant progress has certainly been made in many critical areas,’ said the Jones Lang LaSalle report.

Rental prices in the area  have fallen between 25 and 50%, and many short-term speculators have stopped investing there.

The analysts predict that the rest of the year will see more falls and prices corrections.

The key to investing in this area is for  private family groups, conglomorates, government entities and institutional investors such as insurance companies, pension funds and listed real estate companies to bear the brunt of the burden – bringing in stability and long term capital.

In <a href="http://www.mortgagerates123.co.uk">property news</a> from the Middle East, an annual event known as Cityscape is about to be held in Dubai. It takes place every October. Cityscape attracts the biggest developers in the region, for it is at this event that projects are launched and sold and mulit-million dollar deals are closed.

The organizers of the event report that they believe there will be a 30% drop in both the number of exhibitors and the number of attendees .

So important is the Cityscape property event that this anticipated lack of attendees has increased doubts about the viability of the real estate market.

In recent days a number of key developers in the region have publicly stated that they will not be attending. However, a  few days later they change their minds.

The companies Emaar and Nakheel, for example,  said last week that they would not be taking part in the event and instead would be working on the completion and handover of projects.

But now, Nakheel, which is state-owned, and Emaar Properties have changed t heir minds.

Other large companies, such as Limitless, will still not be attending. At least that is the word for now.