Take the long view of Abu Dhabi property

This difference in attitude to neighboring Dubai, for example, does have its advantages. Abu Dhabi is likely to be more thorough in its planning of infrastructure development before, rather than after, major projects proceed.

Hence traffic jams and roads full of construction trucks are less likely to be a blot on the record of the local real estate sector. But such planning and consultation between ministries takes time. Important people may not always be available, particularly during the long summer period.

Also if you want to have genuinely iconic architecture then that means competitions, such as the one just announced for the Sheikh Zayed Museum, but that means another long delay while international architectural practices come up with their designs and then there is the detailed design process to follow.

Rich city

However, Abu Dhabi sits on 10 per cent of the world's oil reserves, and is presently earning record oil revenues and also income from its estimated $600-850 billion investment fund. In short, this is a city that can afford to wait and get its development plans right.

What this means for would-be participants is that they also need to be patient. It is no good charging in and buying off-plan property expecting to flip it on to another buyer like in the early days of Dubai real estate. Besides Abu Dhabi property is being sold at prices comparable to the much higher levels now prevalent in Dubai.

Similarly, if many buyers in Dubai now find themselves with long delays, and many are in this position, then they should learn from this lesson and make due allowance for what could well follow in Abu Dhabi.

Problems coming

For surely Abu Dhabi is further down the development curve and problems like shortages of building materials, inflating building costs and labor issues can only be expected to mirror what is already a problem in Dubai.

Therefore, existing landlords in Abu Dhabi are likely to enjoy a further inflation of rental prices due to project delays, just like Dubai landlords, only for rather longer as the new supply is going to take even longer to come on stream.

This might mean that for individual investors buying whatever becomes available early on could be a good move just to avoid a rent price spiral. If you are too fussy and want the best of the best in new architecture this could come at the price of additional high rents while you wait.