It has appeared that a sum of about $350 million was lost by the Middle East's biggest listed property developer, Emaar Properties, in the second quarter, mainly because it thinks its $1 billion bet on the U. S. housing market is now worthless.

A loss of 1.29 billion dirhams, or $351.5 million was posted Thursday by Emaar Properties, from April through June, which was dramatically lower than a profit of 2.12 billion dirhams ($577.7 million) a year earlier.

A 65% revenue slide, arising from a serious property slump in Dubai and other effects of the global downturn, also contributed to the drop.

It should be noted though that the worst hit to Emaar's balance sheet comes from a 1.73 billion dirham ($471.4 million) total writedown of its John Laing Homes division in the U. S. It paid $1.05 billion for the company in 2006.