Anyone looking for relief in the ever increasing price of property in Dubai is going to be disappointed by predictions from the Dubai Land Department that the boom has some way to go yet.

A study released by FutureBrand’s today, looking at the Gulf Real Estate sector, found that land prices in Dubai have risen 64 per cent over the past year. We asked the Land Department is this was set to continue. It felt the prices would continue to go up, because more people are still coming to the emirate.

The population, said spokesman Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Hathboor, is now 4.2 million, and ‘everyday more people come’. With such spiralling costs, the fear is that companies will stop relocating to Dubai, choosing instead cheaper places where staff can afford to live. But Al Hathboor did not believe this was a bubble due to pop. ‘We’re not worried about the rapid rise of prices. They talked before about a bubble.’

And is Dubai big enough to cope with this rapid population splurge? ‘Already we are building in the sea,’ he joked.

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