Invest in property in Dubai was pretty profitable a few years ago, and some real estate companies, even today, do not cease to advertise the desirability of investment in UAE real estate market, but ... A property boom in Dubai collapsed at the end of 2008 when it was hit by the global financial crisis. According to a poll by Reuters, Dubai house prices, already nearly 60% off their peak, are set to drop another 10% over the next two years, as new units are released onto a market awash with supply. Prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are to fall 5% and 10% respectively in 2011, according to the poll, which was taken over the past week. The decline will continue in 2012 with prices falling in both cities about by 4%. Even the most optimistic analysts do not see Dubai's residential market bottoming out until the second half of this year at the earliest. Debts of some development companies have already crossed over billions of dollars. In the latest sign the property market is struggling, the Abu Dhabi government has stepped in with a $5.2bn aid package to the state's largest developer Aldar Properties to help the company meet looming debt obligations. Some of the major UAE developers have already switched to the fast growing eastern markets, towards India and China. The fate of the oversupplied real estate market of UAE remains still unclear. Who knows, maybe those 2 years will be best for property acquisition for the people who really need it? The situation on the real estate market in Armenia is partly similar to the Emirates, but there are some differences. Since 2009, there was not slump in real estate prices, but gradual decline. Falling prices naturally led to inappropriate investments in real estate as a means of raising capital, and positive growth trends are not observed. Supply of housing in older buildings and in new ones has increased, the number in need of housing is rather high, but the financial situation of the population and the high interest mortgage loans do not yet allow the real estate market stirring up.

Today is the Grand Opening of One Hyde Park, the most expensive residential development in the world. It is situated in London's Knightsbridge and consists of 4 main buildings connected to each other with total area of 65000sg.m. The development consists of 86 luxury apartments and three boutiques. In the late 2006 an old building on today's development site was demolished and the main construction work was carried in 2007- 2010. The One Hyde Park was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners, an exclusive interior design was made by Candy & Candy, and Laing O'Rourke was the General contractor. The luxurious residential development is owned by Project Grande Guernsey Limited (PGGL), a joint venture between Candy&Candy - the company of the famous luxury home developer brothers Nick Candy and Christian Candy, and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani - the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar. Project was financed via development loan from German Eurohypo AG bank. Maintenance of the development will carry the neighboring Mandarin Oriental hotel which is the first "residential experience" for the company in Europe. There are about 350 guests invited to the Opening for who cooked the celebrity chefs Heston Blumenthal and Daniel Boulud. Despite the continuing steady decline in the cost of housing in the UK, the price of apartments in One Hide Park starting at around £ 20 million, and late last summer one of its penthouses have been sold for a record sum for the country, at £ 140 million (approximately US$ 222m). The six-bedroom Penthouse stretches across two floors and has a wonderful panoramic view through bullet-proof windows to the main sight of Hyde Park- Serpentine Lake. Despite 24 hour protection from SAS-trained security guards, this apartment also equipped with so-called "safe room", where you can hide in the event of a break-in, home invasion, or other threat (as in the American thriller "Panic Room" by David Fincher). Name of the purchaser of this penthouse is kept in strict confidence, but some high-end realtors suggest a possible buyer from the Middle East or Nigeria.

The history of construction of two hydro-power plants on the Arax (Araz) River lasted nearly 10 years, with estimated in 2001 construction cost about US$60-80million. After signing on March 19, 2007 the interstate agreement between Armenia and Iran, the Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan announced the construction of 2 power plants with capacity of 140 megawatts each, with estimated construction cost about US$140million and construction start in 2008. And finally, according to the latest announcement of Minister, the construction of two 130 megawatts power stations will start in early 2011 with estimated cost US$323million... A distinctive feature of the License Agreement between two countries is that the Armenian side does not finance and build these power stations, and everything is done by the Iranian side. The Armenian part of the station, which is called Meghri HPP must be given to Armenia without indemnity after 20 years, which include 5-year construction period and 15-year exploitation and payback period through the sale of electricity to Iran. Construction will be implemented by the Iranian company Farad-Sepasad, which will solve on its own all the financial and organization problems concerning the construction and the exploitation of Meghri HPP. Meghri HPP energy output is planned to be about 800 million kWh/year, and it must be founded jointly that at the transmission time the electromechanical and hydro mechanical devices have resources for the 10-year effective operation, and the tunnel (18.2km) and engineering structures have resources for 30 years. Along with the construction of hydroelectric power stations, parties are going to start building of a new additional third high-voltage (400kV) transmission line which will increase the power transmission between the two countries to 1000MVt. The construction of this third high-voltage line and "Noravan" substation will cost about € 108 million and will be implemented during 18 months. The length of the transmission line in Armenia is approximately 275 kilometres (from the border of Iran to "Noravan" substation- 80 kilometres, from "Noravan" substation to Hrazdan fifth energy block - 195 kilometres) and 163 kilometres in Iran.

Immediately before the New Year the famous Boston skyscraper, John Hancock Tower, was purchased by Boston Properties for US $ 930 million. The building was initially purchased at a foreclosure auction 18 months ago by Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners for $660.6 million. The resale of the Hancock tower can be described as a brilliant deal, which could not occur without such a chaotic state of the real estate market in the U.S. Note that the famous skyscraper in 2006 cost about US $ 1.3 billion. The total area of floor space is about 158.000 sq. m. John Hancock, the 60 story tower with 241m in height, was built in 1976 and is still the tallest building in Boston. The building is designed by IM Pei & Partners, for which in 1977 the American Institute of Architecture presented the firm with a National Honor Award. According to experts, the glass walls of the Tower reflect its surroundings, do not interfere with it and are in harmony with the historic City of Boston. The same "glass experiment" IM Pei & Partners used when designing the glass pyramid in the middle of historic Louvre, which could not happen without criticism. The building is named after John Hancock (1737-1793) - the first governor of Massachusetts, a patriot of the American Revolution and the author of the stylish signature on the Declaration of Independence of America. Another building named after John Hancock is the Chicago's John Hancock Center, a 100-storey, 344m tall skyscraper.

Innovative Composites International, a Canadian builder, will construct plastic homes for thousands of earthquake victims in Haiti. The units it will build are expected to cost less, but be stronger, more environment-friendly and easier to assemble compared to houses built using traditional construction materials. The technology involves combining high-strength fibers with low-cost plastic and making available structural applications in lieu of steel, concrete and wood with a strong, light and 100 percent recyclable material. An official of the Canadian Home Builders Association said wood, which is usually used for house framing in Canada, is not an ideal building materials for Haiti and in other countries with warm and tropical climates because of the need to treat wood for decay. The material that Innovative Composites will use is expected to withstand hurricanes and tremors. More than one million homes were destroyed by the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010. In October, Innovative Composites was named a finalist of the Building Back Better Communities housing competition in Port-au-Prince. The firm has as its partners for the project 3D Global Solutions and Barclays Gedi Group, which are private U.S. companies. Their consortium promised to deliver 5,000 houses yearly. The housing project, which is expected to cost $4 billion, would be divided among 6 to 10 developers. US$4-billion fund has been established under the stewardship of former U.S. president Bill Clinton.