The Middle East

Although the UAE population’s stood at 8.2m in 2010, according to the latest information from the UAE’s National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s per capita energy consumption is one of the highest in the world. A combination of factors like high per capita income and a warm climate contribute to the rate of energy usage. Dubai has one of the...

In late 2011 Dubai’s real estate sector began to show solid signs of recovery, led mostly by the residential segment, which has benefitted from increasing demand and rising prices. In the first quarter of 2012 the sector posted growth of around 4%, making it the best performing real estate market globally for that period, as per the Knight Frank...

Towards late November 2012, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE vice-president, and prime minister and ruler of Dubai, announced a new mixed-use development, Mohammed bin Rashid City (MBR), which upon completion looks set to be the biggest such complex in the world. The plans feature a series of retail spaces (collectively known as the “Mall...

Despite the ongoing repercussions from the 2008-09 economic downturn, as a whole Dubai’s real estate sector has seen increased activity in recent years. Since the recovery began in late 2010 and early 2011, many of the emirate’s largest projects, a substantial number of which were put on hold in the years following the downturn, have been restarted...

While for many, Dubai might be synonymous with shopping malls, the traditional retail format – the souk – is holding up surprisingly well, although the winds of change mean that it has had to adapt to one of the most dynamic retail scenes in the world. Traditionally, the souk, meaning “market” in Arabic, consists of shops arranged along...