Barclays Plc recently won the UAE's first real estate foreclosure case under Dubai Mortgage Law 14 of 2008; a significant indication that the 2008 mortgage law which sets out rules for default, foreclosures and repossession is being utilised by creditors. In brief:

• On Monday 11 January 2010, Barclays Bank announced it had won a Dubai court order foreclosing a mortgage loan in a landmark verdict.

• Each foreclosure case will be heard by the courts on its own facts and circumstances. A judgment issued in one case would not be binding in another.

• It is estimated Dubai-based lenders are holding some US$16 billion worth of home loans.

• Moody's estimated in September 2009 that 12% of 27,000 residential mortgages would default within 12 to 18 months.

With real estate prices dropping significantly across Dubai and other Emirates, investors who acquired mortgages at a time when prices peaked in the summer of 2008 have no doubt been feeling the pinch.