Christie’s holds its Dubai sale tuesday and wednesday. The local papers talk to Jussi Pylkkanen about the market:

“Since we started in the region in 2005 we have seen a 400 percent increase in the amount being spent on art by people from the Middle East region,” he said.

“Already we have made sales of $118 million since we launched in Dubai, and I expect we will see a further $10 million taken at this season’s arts and jewellery sales,” he said. “There has been a slowdown, but generally people are still spending. If we see a 75 percent to 85 percent sale rate this week then that will be a superb result.”

In October Christie’s garnered $16.9 million. That was down 37.5 percent from $22 million in April 2008.

Christie’s Sees Higher Sales at Dubai Auction (Maktoob Business)