Thousands of Dubailand homes to hit the market

More than 5,000 new homes are about to come on the market at bargain prices in Dubailand, the Dh235 billion (US$63.98 billion) master-planned development off Emirates Road.

Sale and rental prices in Dubailand are already 20 to 40 per cent less than comparable Dubai neighbourhoods, agents say.

Many owners in projects under construction bought off-plan at the height of the building boom and are now trying to sell their units. But there are few takers outside the already established communities.

“The only demand is for completed property,” said Hannah Bakshani, a Better Homes consultant who specialises in the Dubailand market.

Dubailand was billed as “the world’s most ambitious tourism, leisure and entertainment project” when its construction was announced in 2003. Plans for the 3 billion-square-foot development plan integrated Universal Studios and Six Flags theme parks, shopping malls, golf courses, offices and housing on a massive scale, creating a new international attraction.

But most of the development’s entertainment components – including the theme parks; the Mall of Arabia, the world’s largest shopping mall; and a Tiger Woods golf course – were put on hold in 2009, leaving the disjointed housing projects to battle for buyers with developments around the city.The entertainment element “was the value added” for the Dubailand housing projects, said Matthew Green, the head of research for the property adviser CB Richard Ellis. “Otherwise it was just a development in the middle of the desert.”