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Dubai-based Emaar Properties is denying reports that it is pulling out of a plan to develop a $600 million resort and residential project on the Indonesian island of Lombok.

In March 2008 Emaar signed a joint venture deal with the Bali Tourism Development Corporation to build the project, one of the first ventures into Indonesia by a Middle East developer. Emaar announced plans for a 1,200 hectare development, including a marina and golf course on the island, which is about 25 miles from Bali.

The real estate developer who bought the “Britain” island in Dubai’s the World project is facing seven years in jail for writing bad checks.

London-native Safi Qurashi is the owner of Premier Real Estate Bureau, described on its Web site as “Dubai's leading agency for affordable luxury waterfront homes since 2005.”  In its heyday, the firm generated £400 million and employed 80 people, according to the British press.

Of the myriad of annual studies measuring everything from home buying habits to the favorite ice cream of billionaires, the Merrill Lynch/CapGemini World Wealth Report is one of my favorites.

The report primarily tracks the number of wealthy people in the world, the volume of people who can call themselves millionaires. Of course, a million doesn’t go very far these days, so instead of measuring the filthy rich, the report really tracks simply those people doing pretty good, the people making money or losing it.

After posting a 50 percent drop in valuations in the last two years, Dubai’ residential market is ready to embrace any sign of good news.

So when Colliers International this week reported a two percent increase in prices in the first quarter of 2010, many trumpeted the report as a sign prices may be stabilizing. The modest bump was the first year over year increase since 2008.

But the real meat of the Colliers report was far more depressing.

Home prices in the fourth quarter of 2009 continued to surge in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region, while values plummeted in Dubai and Eastern Europe, according to the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index.

Around the world, prices fell an average of 3.8 percent in the quarter, including .6 percent drop in the United States.

“The recovery in global housing markets is still proving somewhat shaky,” said Knight Frank head of residential research Liam Bailey. “Although a number of locations saw staggering growth of up to 28 percent in 2009, prices were still falling in almost half of the countries in our index during the final three months of the year.”

Perhaps wary of Dubai’s fate, Abu Dhabi is no longer interested in working with speculators and short term investors, a top government official said this week during Cityscape Abu Dhabi, the region’s largest property show.

“There is not a place anymore for them,” said Ahmed Shareef, under-secretary at the Department of Municipal Affairs.

As part of its $9 billion recapitalization plan, Nakheel, the struggling Dubai developer, offered a ray of hope for investors in its unfinished projects.

Nakheel says it will use a portion of $8 billion in cash it will receive from the government of Dubai to complete construction of “near-term projects.” It is also promising to “provide customers with clarity on completion and handover dates of those projects.

For the second year in a row, Monaco ranks as the world’s most expensive residential real estate market, with prices averaging from $4,300 to $5,900 a square foot.

In fact, it was no competition. London was a distant second, with prices topping out at $4,400 a square foot, according to the just released 2010 Knight Frank Wealth Report. Paris was third, offering a relatively reasonable range of $2,400 to $3,300 a square foot.

After years of promising reforms in the property business, the Dubai government is wrestling with how and when to declare a development dead.

For buyers and developers, it’s more than an academic discussion. Investors can’t move to get their money back until a project is officially cancelled, something developers are rarely in a rush to do.

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), part of the omnipotent Dubai Land Department, was created three years ago to address exactly this type of issue. Among other powers, the RERA was given the authority to cancel projects.

A subsidiary of Dubai World turned over ownership of New York’s famed Knickerbocker building to lenders this week, after defaulting on mortgage payments.

Istithmar World Capital, an investment arm of state-controlled Dubai World, paid $300 million for the Times Square icon in 2006. The company said it wanted to turn the office building into a luxury hotel.

Instead, Denmark-based Danske Bank assumed control of property this week and hired Jones Lang Lasalle to sell it. Danske took over the mortgage in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Reuters reports.