Does Abu Dhabi really want to sell houses?

The car park was full within 30 minutes of opening, the queues of pre-registered visitors collecting tickets were 200 deep, and Aldar stopped handing out lottery numbers to buyers by 11am. If the second Cityscape Abu Dhabi is to be judged on public response alone, yesterday's opening morning was a solid gold hit.

IIR, the event organizer, expects 25,000 people through the doors over the three days, up from 15,000 last year. Most of those appeared to be forming a scrum at the Aldar stand.

For those that missed the boat in Dubai, Abu Dhabi is seen as a second chance to make a fortune from real estate. Certainly there is no shortage of world class projects - Abu Dhabi has the money to employ the best planners, architects, model builders, stand builders and brochure designers. It seemed the cream of the UAE's modeling industry had been hired take business cards and hand out flyers.

But does Abu Dhabi really want this, or is it just going through the motions? If it was that desperate to impress wouldn't they have finished off the exhibition center's potholed and chaotic car park? Wouldn't the police have been on hand to help direct traffic, instead of two hard-pressed Indians? Wouldn't there have been clear signs welcoming visitors and asking for patience as they worked through the opening day crush?

As one agent commented: "Why do they need to sell houses? They're sat on 100 years of oil, they don't need the money. They're just scared of looking like a dusty little village next to Dubai."