| Dubai Cityscape won't see big project launches |
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 Dubai's top property exhibition, once the stage where multibillion-dollar developments were announced, will be a smaller and more reflective affair this year as the cash-strapped industry licks its wounds.
At Cityscape 2008 in Dubai, the Gulf emirate's flagship property firm Nakheel launched a kilometre-high tower, only for the project to be put on hold months later as the financial crisis slammed the regional property boom into reverse.
The exhibition next week could serve as an opportunity for developers to discuss the past, the changes needed to secure the future, and to focus on customer relationships.
"Cityscape's structure was boosted mainly by developers' mega sales launches, which attracted buyers and led the event to become a key market catalyst and a speculative property trading floor for years," said Roy Cherry, vice president for research, real estate and construction at Shuaa Capital.
"With speculators still in a state of coma, property transactions around the lows, and more supply in the pipeline, the event will probably be more than ever before about reflection rather than investment."
The fortunes of Dubai's once-booming property sector have changed sharply, with billions of dollars worth of projects now on hold and house prices down about 50 per cent since their peaks last year.
More than 500 projects have been put on hold or cancelled in the UAE, with Dubai the hardest hit of the seven members of the federation, Dubai-based research firm Proleads said earlier in September.
One year on from Cityscape 2008, Nakheel is under the spotlight for very different reasons – its $3.5 billion worth of Islamic bonds that mature on December 14 and the government's plans for them, while Emaar Properties, builder of the world's tallest tower, is to be merged with three regional property firms.
Last week Nakheel, which developed the palm fronds islands complex, and Emaar Properties reversed earlier decisions not to attend the exhibition, without giving a reason for the turnaround.
"The fact that some leading developers hesitated to attend it is in itself a manifestation of a more inward-looking industry, seeking to formulate a way out of the crisis towards a changed future," said Cherry.
Nakheel said last week it intended to promote "communal properties" in the UAE that are close to completion, while Emaar said it would be a chance to promote its expansion strategy in the Middle East and Asia.
Attendance is expected to decline by around 20 per cent from the 21,000 visitors who showed up last year, and floor space size will be down about 30 per cent, said Rohan Marwaha, managing director of Cityscape.
"We don't expect huge announcements of major projects," he said.
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