Some interesting and obvious facts of BD.

It will be higher to the top floor than the CN Tower and even the proposed Freedom Tower are to their antennas.

It will surpass KVLY mast in North Dakota as the tallest structure on earth giving it a title of tallest structure on earth and making its' "World's Tallest Building" title absolutely undisputed.

Interesting note. BD will also have surpassed the Warsawa Radio Mast in Konstantinow, Poland, which had fallen in a wind storm, and had a height of 646m or 2,120 ft. This would make BD the tallest man made structure ever.

At this point I feel that this building would be just over 800m. In many posts for the last year and a half when many were saying 580m, 650m, 705m, I was maintaining a height of at "at least 800m."

The final surprise may be when Emaar may announce a height closer to that 950m mark or maybe the MIGHTY 1KM! This building will probably have 200 floors.

They would have to disclose some final height to the tenders so that a proper and accurate bid would be offered. Maybe the contract may include secrecy by the winning bidder as to the final height. I feel that Emaar should forget the childish games and be professional by announcing a final height. The foundation is already at grade now. A final height would have to be known.

2. Drive along SZR and look at the literally thousands of apartments going up all over - some of them with extremely slow progress. I wonder how many have been sold?

A recent report in the local papers highlighted that DAMAC (a major developer - used to be an oil field catering company) are at least 12 months behind with one landmark development - leaving investors without their promised rental income. Oh, and they also conveniently seemed to have forgotten about the standards promised for kitchens and bathrooms. Latter not even RAK Ceramics fittings, but from an outfit in Oman.

There is no way that the current price levels can be sustained, given the mis-match between property prices and local wage levels. Maybe no outright crash - but certainly a steep correction coming our way. My bet is to wait for a year or so and check out the secondary market.

Better value to be found in new projects in Ajman and RAK, unless travel to and from work in Dubai is a major issue

Yes all very sad but with landlords kicking tenants out in order to re-lease the property outside the 15% increase per year restriction, it's a little hard to feel sorry for the ****s!!

Hopefully this woeful construction situation will deal out a financial risk seeking to these types.

By the way, if they are all 50 storeys+, then why are they called "flats"??

I share your distain for the typical local landlord, however, the properties that DAMAC have fallen behind with were sold mainly to overseas-based individual investors seeking a return on what is often their retirement capital

The race for the world's tallest building may be on. But it is actually a moving target. Every new project will attempt to beat out the last contender. So I think the main thing is: how impressive and how functional is the building. This is where the Burj Dubai has an absolute lead. It is the world's most modern building. Add to that the infrastructure emerging in Dubai and you will get the worlds most amazing area.

Provided the will to beat the height of the building - some project will defeat it sooner or later. But that does not lessen the value of anything in Dubai.

I purchased the standpoint studio for 2.2 m today at emaars launch in downtown burjdubai. Any interested buyers can contact me at scottuae at gmail dot com

Does anyone have photos of the Burj Dubai?