Dubai's Real Estate Slump Catches Up With the City's Finance Hub

  • About half a dozen executives have left the DIFC Authority
  • Gate Avenue is struggling to attract tenants as retail suffers
The Dubai International Financial Center in Dubai.Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
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Walk into the latest expansion of Dubai’s financial district and you’ll see a handful of small art galleries, some upscale men’s tailors and plenty of retail space waiting for takers.

The Dubai International Financial Centre isn’t being spared a slump in the emirate’s retail and property market as it struggles to attract tenants to its 1 billion dirham ($272 million) Gate Avenue expansion -- a marble-lined underground promenade linking the hub’s main district to nearby towers.