Why you should buy a property in Dubai

1. Long-term residents should be considering buying to replace rental payments. Even if your home is worth a fraction of what you paid for it after 10 years, this would still be a huge improvement on the negative return of renting.

2. Second, property prices look cheap by international standards, and rental yields are still high.

3. There is a big change in the city's geography underway. What is the fringe of Dubai today, the Dubai Marina, will be uptown Dubai of tomorrow. Thus property values will follow this curve upwards, as people relocate to the new uptown.

4. Legally, there is no law to prevent freehold purchase in Dubai, and a new federal law should shortly frame legal rights into a form acceptable to international banks for mortgages; this will push demand and prices higher.

5. Oversupply is the main fear highlighted by sceptics. But there can only be so many properties in prime locations, and the time to buy them is now.

6. Demand for freehold property in Dubai is much higher than most people can comprehend. Certainly an economy growing at 10% plus a year has a dynamic of its own that reflects a huge demand for accommodation.

7. Any property market is going to have its ups and downs, and Dubai will be no different. All the same, Dubai has a habit of frustrating those who wait for bargains. In 1998 some thought rental prices would collapse. It did not happen.

8. Comparatively property is cheap. Dubai villas cost around $1,000 per square metre. London, at the other end of sells apartments in London Docklands at $5,000 per square metre.

9. Dubai is in the process of creating an international property market from scratch. As a result buyers are being be given an exceptionally good deal to encourage them to be pioneers.

10. As the second-hand market emerges, and the legal position of owners becomes absolutely clear, the element of risk will go, and lower risk will mean higher property prices.

11. Dubai is a city where a lot of people earn high tax-free salaries and are in a position to support higher house prices. This is a city with a 20-year track record of strong economic growth and will continue to attract foreign and regional inward investment.