Middle East, Africa & Asia

Created virtually out of nothing in 2002, the Dubai property market has been one of the fastest growing in the world. While some British buyers have undoubtedly been attracted by the idea of owning a holiday home in one of the most bizarre man-made environments on earth, many more have been attracted by the bottom line and by a boom which, until it began to falter in late 2005, looked like it would go on for ever. Thailand and Bali have been experiencing similar bull markets of their own. Much of the foreign interest there has been from people looking for holiday homes in locations that seem the closest thing to paradise on earth. Investors have also begun to realise there is serious money to be made there: not only are prices rising rapidly, giving good capital gains, but properties make ideal holiday lets, especially since the season in the Tropics runs for virtually the whole year, producing far higher potential yields than in southern Europe. Similar factors are at play in Turkey, Egypt and Morocco, with the latter given a boost by the opening of easyJet’s new route to Marrakech.
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