A bit of positive news for any of those lucky enough to be 'cherry picked' and actually get on a 2009 DXB course, is that rental prices are falling fast.
A 3 bed villa with 2500 sqft in the Springs, was 300k when I arrived last summer, they are now going for 210k right on the allowance, with specualtion that rents will drop much more before the economy rights itself.
On the subject of pay, I third the earlier comments, rumours of a pay cut are absolute bull$hit. A more pressing concern to anyone that wants to come here, is that we are, at the moment a touch overstaffed with trainees and ATCOs for JXB with nothing to do, so there may be no more arrivals in 2009 or not until the last quarter at the earliest!