DUBAI'S ARENA LATEST

DUBAI arena is the latest project unveiled despite weaker growth.

This week, Dubai unveiled its latest megaproject : A stadium in the heart of a super luxe shopping and dining destination.

The arena, which will host sports events and concerts, is located in a leisure  retail and residential destination called CITY WALK, which itself is new and was developed by Meraas, a company owned by Dubai Ruler  Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid AI Maktoum.

It's just one in a pipeline of projects the emirate is churning out in the lead-up to next year's  World Expo in Dubai, despite an economic slowdown and concerns that an oversupply is weighing down real estate prices.

''Property is a cyclic market and we are in a period of a sift market,'' said Craig Plumb, head of research in the Middle East for JLL, a real estate and investment management firm.

Speaking at a real estate exhibition in Abu Dhabi, he noted that retail rents are also falling because landlords are responding to tougher market conditions by being much more flexible in their deals. [Agencies]