Real estate still in focus + a look at DFM’s partnership with Shenzhen

Real estate is still getting play: Bloomberg interviews Dubai developer Binghatti Chairman Muhammad Binghatti about the developer’s ambitious development plans. The firm is set to invest USD 1 bn on construction for the world’s largest tower in the next 18 months, alongside some 9k homes already in the works and over 12k homes planned over the next two years, he said in the interview.

Binghatti sees heightened demand from wealthy Turkish and Egyptian buyers, which he says has increased 20% y-o-y, driven by currency instability in Turkey and Egypt, as well as capital gains in Dubai over the past few years.

The Financial Times also picked up news of DFM partnering with China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange to cooperate on cross-border investments — including dual listings, ETFs, and fixed-income instruments. The move comes against the backdrop of Chinese investors’ efforts to “circumnavigate sluggish mainland stocks and take advantage of Beijing’s deeper ties in the Middle East,” the salmon-colored paper wrote.