Great real estate deals

Extraordinary deals were offered at the Property Arabia and Worldwide Property Show 2008 as it started off on a buoyant note on Wednesday.

The event was inaugurated under the patronage of Dr Abdullah Mansour, Under Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.

The internationally acclaimed series of Property Arabia and the Worldwide Property Show is now in its third year and continues to be an immensely popular event which enables buyers and investors to meet leading developers and agents offering free advice on real estate opportunities and also lifestyle options in their own countries.

The property show attracted a record number of international exhibitors, with over 32 countries represented, and ran for four days.

And exhibitors were sending the message that, coupled with the strength of the local currency, some of the prices being offered by international agents and developers have never been lower making it the ideal time to invest.

There were many interesting participants and exhibitors from Bahrain to Barbados, Cyprus to Thailand and the United Kingdom to Malaysia.

Investors could even find a two-bedroom townhouse in Florida, located near Disneyworld in Orlando, at BD41,000 or even a luxury studio in southern Italy for as little as BD25,000.

Locally, golden sponsor Diyar Al Muharraq put on quite an impressive display with its 6m x 6m model of the 12-square km development. Located on the northern shores of Muharraq, Diyar Al Muharraq will house over 100,000 people in around 30,000 dwellings.

Welcoming guests to the double-tiered stand was Diyar's CEO Aaref Hejres. He said: "It is a pleasure to be a part of Property Arabia 2008 as it is our first time to participate in such an event. There are a lot of major companies here as it is the biggest real estate exhibition in Bahrain. We absolutely love it.

"We hope to create awareness for our project and to explain to people what it is comprised of and what the opportunities for investors are. The demand for properties in Diyar is even higher than the supply. We have developers from Bahrain and the GCC that are extremely interested in purchasing property and I believe this is due to the size of the development. This is a city that has everything. We believe that with this event we are achieving our goals."

The $200 million luxury Difaaf project on Reef Island also received much attention from visitors and investors. Sales manager Omar Kabbara said: "A lot of people speculated that we would have a slow season especially with the market crash in the US and Europe. However the launch of our project was a very positive one and we have already sold 80 per cent of the first phase. All investors are, and should be, really encouraged to invest in Bahrain right now and to keep on coming back to the kingdom. We have a solid market at the moment and it is a great time to take advantage.

"Property Arabia will definitely help us a lot in the marketing and we are sure that we will participate again next year."