Construction sector running hot in UAE amid preparation for World Expo

Despite a steep surge of real estate prices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2013, new projects flood the construction sector as the country upgrades its infrastructure to prepare for hosting the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. According to real estate services provider Jones Lang LaSalle, real estate prices increased in the UAE by 30 percent on average, while real estate deals in Dubai hit 236 billion dirham (about 64. 2 billion U.S. dollars), representing an increase of 53.24 percent year on year. "After Dubai won last November the bid to hold the World Expo in 2020, opportunities to invest in UAE real estate are bigger than before," Abdulla Al-Saleh, under-secretary of the UAE ministry of economy told Xinhua earlier in January. Barclays Bank sees the peak of the growth driven by the Expo 2020, and expects the emirate to grow by 10.5 percent from 2018 to 2021. It estimated that the Expo would create 277,000 jobs and revenues of 84 billion dirham (about 22.90 billion dollars).