John O'Dolan found Dead at Home

It is with great sadness that we have learned this morning of the death of well known Irish property entrepreneur, John O'Dolan.

O'Dolan will be most famous in overseas property circles as one of the four Irish men involved in the €28m purchase of the 'Ireland in the Sun' project on the manmade island group known as 'The World' off Dubai's coastline. Last year he was also instrumental in organising a deal to purchase England in the project for a reported €23.5m. 

The death is a double tragedy for the Irish property community, coming as it does, so close to the death of Patrick Rocca. O'Dolan is pictured here in happier times presenting a bowl of shamrock to a representative of Nakheel, developer of The World project. 

The Irish Times reports this morning:

ONE OF Ireland’s leading building developers was found dead at his home in Galway yesterday morning.

John O’Dolan (51) had developed a large property development portfolio throughout the country and abroad in areas such as Dubai and Spain. He had been involved in the Island of Ireland project in Dubai.

Mr O’Dolan is survived by his wife Eileen, his daughters Fiona and Róisín and son Robert.

Gardaí say they are treating the discovery of Mr O’Dolan’s body in a shed near his home at Rusheen Bay, between Salthill and Barna in Galway, as a tragic accident.

The father of three founded the auctioneering company Mullery, O’Dolan and Doyle which became one of the biggest in the west throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr O’Dolan was regarded as a shrewd judge of property trends and he later set up his own development company.

He went on to become a major player throughout Ireland and beyond and became renowned for choosing signature properties.

He set up O’Dolan International to develop overseas properties and along with a number of other developers in 2007 bought the Island of Ireland, part of the unique World development four kilometres off the coast of Dubai.

They paid €28 million for the man-made island which was to contain over 100 residential units as well as replicated Irish landmarks, conference centre, hotel and marina.

A number of his properties were landmark buildings such as the former Revenue Commissioners offices on Lord Edward Street in Dublin which he bought five years ago with partners.

Mr O’Dolan had extensive business interests in Galway and was involved in a number of charities.

He was involved in the big effort to bring the Volvo Ocean Race to Galway. The race will arrive in the city in May.

Earlier this month, a receiver was appointed to two of his business interests, the Kinlay House Hostel and property sales company, Polska Property.

The global downturn had impacted on his business interests the same way it has impacted on property developers throughout the world.

Dubai Property Buyback

This might all seem a little familiar, if so it is because this isn't the first offering, you may well have seen this before. Malahide based Deluxe Properties has announced that it is, once again, on the hunt for property in Dubai and the neighbouring Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK).

A new ‘Buy Back’ scheme aimed at Irish investors seeking to sell on their investment properties in Dubai has been launched by Irish based Middle East property investment company, Deluxe Properties who are located in Malahide, Co Dublin.

The company says it has raised €25m from its investors who are actively seeking properties from Irish investors who, for whatever reason, cannot complete on purchase.

It is looking for a mixture near construction and already constructed units in the Emirate. Be wary though, if you're expecting to make a killing. The company states; “we buy and sell property in the Middle East and we buy not just from developers but we buy back properties from distressed buyers seeking a quick exit strategy." 'Distressed sellers do not make money out of property but if you're stuck with a property in Dubai and need to get out it might be an option, even if it is not necessarily a very lucrative one.

The areas and developments in question are Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Jumeriah Beach Residence, Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, Jumeirah Islands, Victory Heights and Business bay. The company is also interested in developments in the smaller Emirate of Ras Al Khamiah (RAK).

You'll find the full story here.

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Atlantis Dubai Grand Opening

The Atlantis Resort in Dubai has its official opening this evening in what is expected to be one of the most extravagant, money-pits of a grand opening ever seen on the planet.

The resort, pictured on the left almost exactly a year ago, (it looks a lot more spiffy than this now), is a recreation of the famous Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

According to the Khaleej Times some of the famous attendees will include Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, basketball legend Michael Jordon and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, as well as singers Janet Jackson (I'd imagine they'll be paying extreme attention to her attire just in case anything pops out) and Lindsay Lohan (likewise).

Aussie music legend, Kylie Minogue, is to make her debut Middle East performance at the exclusive event for over 2,000 guests from across the globe. Actor Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron, and celebrity tantrum thrower, Naomi Campbell, are also expected to be in attendance.

The opening will host a record-breaking fireworks display, both in size and cost (well what else would you expect? This is Dubai after all), designed and created by international pyrotechnics expert, Grucci.

Fireworks will stretch across the full 520 kilometres of Palm Jumeirah, lighting up the entire island and the Atlantis resort, creating a display that will be visible from space (what part exactly isn't specified, but you know what they mean). Whatever else you say about the Emiratiis, you've got to hand it to them, they do excess better than practically anyone else.

The event might come as a bit of a shot in the arm for the Dubai property market which appears to be in somewhat of a slide of late, but I wouldn't bet on it. You have to say it's a great way to kick off a recession though. It sure beats the misery in which we're inclined to wallow in Ireland.

This is how the fireworks display went, pretty impressive (if you don't mind the €30m price tag). Video courtesy of CNN.

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Dubai Property Market Starts to Slide

We'd love to bring you good news stories every day, but let's be realistic, there aren't exactly buckets of them around at the moment and we have to relate what's actually happening in the world of overseas property instead of burying our heads in the sand and pretending that the current market instability doesn't exist.



Despite having wagon loads of cash to spend and many vehement protestations to the contrary, it would appear that Dubai's fledgling property market is suffering just as badly from the global credit crisis as everybody else.



A very interesting piece by Jason Benham in Reuters suggests that "secondary prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi fell 4 to 5%, with Dubai's advertised villa prices falling by 19 percent month-on-month in October after several banks tightened lending conditions in August and September." It also says that : "Apartments in the Dubai International Financial Centre, the nexus of the banking and investment sector, fell as much as 30 percent."



Another sales agent was quoted as saying that property prices had fallen 30-35% in Dubai since September. The downturn has meant that major developers in the Emirate such as Nakheel, Emaar and Damac are either cutting jobs or at least reassessing employment numbers.



This is not good news for the many thousands of Irish investors that flocked to the Emirate after it opened its property market to the world in 2002. But, you know what they say, "it's an ill wind ...". Perhaps this will make room for another speculative run at this most extraordinary of markets in the not too distant future.

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Dubai Property Links

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For a selection of property exhibitions featuring Dubai property click here.

Law No. 8 in Dubai a Welcome Development

As the Dubai property market evolves there are a number of actions being taken to bring a level of credibility and maturity to the market. This is something that won't happen overnight, but it is good to see that the Emirate is making an effort to guide things in the right direction in any case. 

Dubai's government formed Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) has issued a list of agents and developers who have been officially licensed, paving the way for greater transparency and security for property investors in Dubai. 

You'll find the full 'official' list of developers here. If you're looking for an agent (broker) in Dubai there's an official listing of them as well, you'll find it here. 

Law No. 8 has also been introduced which is described by RERA as 'A Law to Regulate Developers and to Protect Purchasers’ Payments in Off-Plan Transactions'. Published on June 28th 2007 it means that a developer wishing to sell units off the plan must apply to the Department to open a 'Guarantee Account', basically an escrow account. This account is opened in the name of the project and the proceeds can only be used exclusively for the purposes of constructing that particular project. The developer’s creditors are not allowed to attach any liens to the money deposited in this account.

This is all being done in an effort to promote greater transparency in the market, which can only be a good thing. One worrying factor, however, is the statement that; "Big companies that enjoy good reputation and have strong guarantees have been exempted." This would, for any red blooded citizen of a mature democracy send red lights flashing. In other words, if you're a buddy of the guys in RERA, you don't necessarily need to have any escrow account, your clients can go to hell if you fold and their money is lost in a big black hole. 

Not good guys. OK, so it's Dubai and its owners can do what they like with it, but to gain some credibility outside of their own domain it is necessary to get everybody operating under the same rules. Otherwise no-one will take any of this seriously, and rightly so. 

RERA, it said, will work in 2008 to make the real estate market free of unlicensed property developers to guarantee the rights of all parties, whether investors or developers. Of course all of its buddies are no doubt licensed already at this stage. 

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For a selection of property in Dubai click here.

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For independent articles on the Dubai property market click here.

For advice on purchasing in Dubai click here.

For news on the Dubai property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from Dubai agents click here.

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