The driver of what is becoming a property development supercyle in the Arabian Gulf is undeniably Dubai. With a projected 105,000 Dubai apartments being completed this year, and a similar number earmarked to finish in 2008, Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world.

On the northwest coast of the country, Dubai, is accelerating a wave of projects that makes the mind boggle. Hundreds of kilometers of new beachfront land is being established through three giant palm-shaped projects, Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, and Palm Deira, and the Dubai Waterfront project just south of Jebel Ali. A replica of the world is also being established offshore, where complete islands in the shape of each country are being formed from reclaimed land. The reclamation projects are easily the largest in the world, and when completed will house almost a million residents.

Each of the projects feature low and high-rise apartments complexes, villas, hotels, entertainment venues, and recreational facilities.

A theme park, twice the size of the largest Disney park, Disney World at Orlando, is being built. Dubai Sports City, featuring a smorgasboard of sporting facilities and stadiums, is under development nearby. International City will incorporate hundreds of apartments complexes segmented into various countries. There will be a number of buildings in ‘England,’ ‘Germany,’ ‘United States,’ and so on. There is a similar project known as Discovery Gardens. Jumeirah Village, a mega residential project involving countless apartments towers, low rise apartment buildings, and villas, has been unveiled.

A 3.5 kilometre-long marina has been built, Dubai Marina, along which scores of huge apartments towers. Many more apartments towers and hotels are being built.

Adjoining Dubai Marina is the Jumeirah Beach Residence project comprising 36 residential towers encompassing 7,000 apartments, in the final weeks of completion. The beachront development also houses a number of luxury hotels, adding to the six four and five star hotels already operating on the beach.

Some 70,000 to 80,000 new hotel rooms are in the planning stages, or are being built. A number have been completed, and many will be completed this year. One project involves forty hotels being developed as a ‘Las Vegas’ style strip, complete with all the amenities, except gambling. Gambling is prohibited throughout the UAE. Surprising to some who attended the recent Dubai World Cup, a major event on the international (horse) racing calendar.

Whilst other emirates, and Gulf states, are also well ahead in the property game, Dubai continues to set the pace. The UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, the richest of the seven emirates, and home to 90% of the country’s oil reserves, is throwing out a strong challenge. A number of mega island projects are under development, with waves of apartments, villas, and hotels, also being built.

Abu Dhabi recently opened the Emirates Palace, a grand hotel on the Corniche, to rival the Dubai landmark, the Burj Al Arab hotel.

Another project that will (literally) turn heads is the new Rotating City, a super development that will includes scores of rotating buildings. In fact all buildings including residential and office towers, in the city will be rotating. And that’s not all, the huge complex will also feature floating villas, and wedding halls, that will also be able to ‘fly.’ Imagine, a complete city with rotating buildings, rotating villas, rotating apartments, rotating restaurants, rotating hotels, villas floating on water, flying wedding halls, and flying villas (rising and rotating at the same time). This project may well be the pinnacle of the Gulf property boom.

Each of the futuristic apartments towers will be 15 levels, will have rotating shops and restaurants on the ground floors, with the first ten levels of each tower consisting of one and two bedroom rotating apartments. The next four floors will house full-floor rotating penthouses, and on top of each tower will be a split level, 6,000 square feet, villa with its own private garden, swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, and gymnasium. It will have its own drive-through elevator that will take the owner’s car right up to the villa.

The rotating villas will rotate on their own axis, so residents can turn them in any direction towards different themes so they can fix their focus according to a particular mood. One of the hotels, designed along the lines of a Roman theatre, is being built around a water body, connected to the main lake by a stream, which will enable guests to traverse the city in water taxies.

There will be an attraction park housing an ‘animation box,’ a ‘magic carpet’, river ‘adventure’ conference facilities, wedding halls, and ‘mad houses.’ There will be train transport, mini golf for kids, and a mega shopping mall.