by Calculated Risk on 9/25/2010 02:45:00 PM

Just a Saturday visit to Dubai ...

From Richard Spencer at the Telegraph: Dubai may have to knock down buildings constructed during boom (ht Eyal)

The report [from property firm Jones Lang LaSalle] said that between the end of 2007 and the first half of 2010, the amount of office space available in the city grew by 140 per cent – more than double – to 48 million square feet. But the increase in the space occupied was only 70 per cent.

There were still new tenants moving in, but with 19 million square feet coming available this year, and more in 2011 and 2012, the vacancy rate would increase further, from 38 per cent now to over 50 per cent outside the central business district.

Talk about over building! Demolishing completed buildings probably doesn't make sense (it is the desert and the buildings will last a long time with little maintenance). Maybe they can convert the buildings to other uses, but they already have too many high rise condos too.

Just imagine the impact on unemployment as these buildings are completed over the next couple of years. (update: most construction related jobs are held by immigrants - and I was referring to the unemployment of those workers).