Tuesday, Nov 17, 2015
Dubai: Dubai Properties will take a “measured” approach to any new project launches to ensure that no supply imbalance is created in the local freehold market, according to a top official.
“There are a few projects that we are studying... but we will take a decision only after careful inspection of all trends in the Dubai market,” said Abdullah Abu Shabib, Senior Executive Director, Customer Care and Government Relations at DP. “We are monitoring all of the data available from the Land Department and believe that sustainable demand will be there.”
The statement assumes significance given Dubai Properties’ clout which comes by way of its four signature master-developments — JBR, Culture Village, Business Bay and Dubailand. The last one itself is a collection of multiple ‘mini’ master-developments hosting the likes of Sports City, Arabian Ranches and Akoya by Damac as well as DP’s own projects such as Remraam, Arjan and, more recently, Mudon.
Market sources have been saying that Dubai’s master-developers — the likes of DP, Emaar, Damac, etc — will have to pace their new launches with extreme care to ensure that no build-up of unsold housing stock gets created. It would also give the market some breathing space from the slew of launches that have taken place in the last three years. For this year, most estimates suggest that around 20,000 new homes would have been absorbed into the Dubai market through the year.
“We release projects timed to what the market needs during a particular period,” said Abu Shabib. “And what we have seen at Mudon [a villa and townhouse cluster] is that any time we make more releases at Mudon they get sold immediately. More than 70 per cent of Phase 3, which will have 700 units altogether, have been sold to date. That’s the way we want it.
“For phase 3, we specifically went in for smaller unit sizes — compared with the first two phases — because that’s where we saw the gap was in the market at that moment.” (The phase 3 homes start from Dh1.5 million and with sizes ranging from 1,800 to 2,400 square feet.)
Mudon’s two earlier phases accounted for 1,000 plus units. Phase 1 had units priced from Dh2.7 million, while the second phase — which also includes larger units with individual plots — came in the Dh3.9 million to Dh5.4 million range.
“Nearly all of the homes in phase 1 have been occupied and phase 2 handover should be starting next month,” said Abu Shabib. “We will also be releasing some of the five-bedroom units in early Q1-2016.
“For all of the projects that Dubai Properties is handling directly at Dubailand, the infrastructure is ready. And RTA (Roads and Transport Authority) which has announced the Hessa Road will make Dubailand easily accessible from Academic City all the way to Remraam.
“We are still far from realising all of the development potential that Dubailand has in it. It can be a ‘New Dubai’ all by itself.”
By Manoj Nair Associate Editor
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
