A340-300,
I agree with you on most of your points.
However, I have to strongly disagree with you regarding your views about the real estate situation.
No serious investment guru is saying that Doha will be taking over from Dubai! What they are saying is that the whole middle east real estate market is a bubble witing to burst! Its an artificialy inflated over estimated real estate market, designed to give even more wealth to the few rich sjeikhs around!
One golden rule in the middle east! The local rich men will only give you something ( or allow you to invest) at the moment where they are 100% sure no more money can be made by them!
This happend in the DSM, it is happening in real estate as well!
Proof! Just read the newspapers....they are almost begging people now to buy real estate while 2 years ago the buyers had to beg! Nowadays...no more down payments etc...
On top of that, you dont have to be a wizzard to see that there is a total over-offer here in Doha! Compounds are empty, buildings remain unfinished/unsold!
Prices are still high because the greedy bastards made arrangements amongst themselves NOT to lower the prices and, as we all know, they dont really need the money anyway!
And dont forget the fact that the whole market is constructed as a money laundring scheme...
Even the less lucky Qatari people are extremely unhappy with this situation but unfortunatele this situation is dictated by the happy few! Yes, they are present even here!
Ill tell you something, I have been here many years and as long as I dont see people, who have been here 4 times longer than I have and who defenitely have the means to buy, are not buying I do not think its time to buy for normal people like ourselves!
Dont fool yourself. If you bought your 2 bedroom appt for 1.6 million QR today, nobody is going to offer you 3,2 million in 5 years as was predicted by the sales boys!
For that money you buy an appartment in New York or Hong Kong....and I know where I would buy than...
Wake up and smell the roses!
