Gulf property market at full sale
Burj-al-Arab, Dubai's iconic hotel, designed to resemble a billowing sail, could also symbolise the Gulf property market running ahead of a fair wind.
Developments such as The Palm, for example, so loved by footballers' wives, have grabbed the headlines and oil approaching US$70 a barrel is fuelling a wave of infrastructure investment that's predicted to hit US$1.3 trillion between 2007 and 2012.
But recruiters are making heavy weather of finding the right candidates.
Timothy Rowe, managing director of London-based real estate search firm Cobalt Recruitment, tells us that banks, developers and the ruling family in Dubai are driving demand for real estate specialists, bolstered by private equity techniques being applied to secure property.
But Russell Adam at rival recruiter Akamai Financial Markets says the top dollar is going to those bringing capital to the burgeoning infrastructure funds.
Someone with seven to 10 years' of local experience can attract a base of US$250k to US$300k, plus a 100% to 300% bonus.
A local recruiter says international investment banks are poaching property people from regional banks that can't compete. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), for example, lost three of its principal real estate investment managers, led by Mark Burton, who have all decamped to Hermes.
