COVID-19 response: Dubai's private developers proceed with extra cautionDevelopers in Dubai with cash in hand are sticking to their launch and project schedules… for now. This way, they are making sure there is no sudden and complete halt to development activity as what happened in 2009 when the property market went into a downturn.“We believe that the post-COVID-19 era will have its own considerations,” said Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, CEO of Dubai Real Estate Centre. “How that landscape will look and be, no one can tell today.“But we remain attentive and aware and – most importantly – agile enough to be able to draw multiple scenarios for alternatives that are workable for us, for our communities, and for Dubai.”When the 2008 crisis struck, the property market saw an instant sucking out of all liquidity, leading to projects that never launched construction or had to pause well before completion. It took a further year or two before project activity recommenced, led by the likes of Emaar, Damac, and Nakheel.It was only by late 2011/early 2012 that other private developers got back into the game.