If you have a spare Dh36.5 million, it will buy you a villa in one of Dubai’s most sought after areas – Emirates Hills. Designed and built by the original owner in 2006, this villa has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a private pool, a gymnasium, driver’s quarters and a Bond–villain-style fish tank.
Not only does the house have a view of a lake and golf course to the rear but it sits on a park at the front.
At 10,000 square feet, it’s not massive as mansions go. Yes, its kitchen is fabulous, yes, its fittings are beautiful and yes, the marble flooring is exquisite, but that isn’t what you are buying, you are buying its address.
It’s the number one rule in real estate – location, location, location. Emirates Living, as the area is known, houses The Springs, The Lakes, The Meadows and Emirates Hills, and is perhaps one of the most desired places to live for expatriate families in Dubai with Emirates Hills the most desired.
When the term “exclusive” was coined, with regard to real estate, it might have well been meant for Emirates Hills.
When the plots were being sold for the freehold development in the early 2000s, it was the only area in Dubai at the time that allowed buyers to design their own mansion. This gives the area a far more individual feel than many other developments in the city.
As the price tag suggests, the area houses the rich and even famous. Dubai’s top chief executives, politicians and not so struggling artists call the place home. The assassinated Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was a resident until 2007.
Being situated between two golf courses, the Montgomerie Championship Course and The Emirates Golf Club, its thoroughfares are tree-lined avenues with leafy groves around very corner.
The placid, verdant nature of the surroundings only changes when one looks higher at the skyscraper backdrop of Sheik Zayed Rad and you realise this is a suburb in the heart of the metropolis, an oasis of calm in the chaos of the city and the towering skyline makes you think the villas price tag doesn’t seem so high.
Q&A session
Dh36.5 million is a lot of money for a house, no matter where it is. Is it worth it?
What something is worth is not an easy one. The price suggests that the buyer will be an occupier as the margin returns at that level are negligible. Therefore if one is buying to make a return, then one would be better with a one-bedroom apartment in the Marina or similar. Or, with Dh36.5m to spend, maybe 18 one-bedroom apartments would be better – and this should leave enough cash to employ someone to manage them. With regards to the worth of the property, if no one is willing to pay for it, it’s worthless; if many are willing to pay for it, then it is worth a lot. A recent statistic from America’s Economic Policy Institute shows that, on average, a chief executive earns 273 times what a rank and file employee earns, in which case, it is likely that the demand for this property will be robust.
But my rent is going up and I don’t know whether to buy?
If that is your worry, then stop looking at this property – it’s not for you.
How is Dubai’s property sector currently faring?
The property market is without doubt in a resurgent mood; developments are being announced weekly. Expatriates considering buying should do the maths, work out how long they intend to be here, what rent they will pay as against owning and what returns they may expect if they sold. Even if you only get what you paid, you have saved against renting. The crash of 2008 hurt lots of people, but that was then, and many have since overcome their fears and are seeing decent growth.
t
ascott@thenational.ae
