Dubai's Nakheel says confidence is back as it sells land worth Dh419m

"Real estate in Dubai is on the move again," says Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah as developer sells plots at Palm Jumeirah and Jumeirah Village Circle.

Nakheel has completed a set of land deals worth more than Dh419 million in its Palm Jumeirah and Jumeirah Village Circle developments. Jumana ElHeloueh / Reuters
Powered by automated translation

The Dubai-based property developer Nakheel has completed a set of land deals worth more than Dh419 million (US$114.1m) in its Palm Jumeirah and Jumeirah Village Circle developments, the company said yesterday.

In an upbeat statement, the master developer said that it had concluded Dh306.4m of land sales at its flagship Palm Jumeirah man-made peninsular development as demand continued to return to the Dubai market.

Nakheel is still in the process of repaying its vast loans after it agreed to a Dh60 billion financial restructuring in August last year.

The land sales comprised a 155,000 square foot residential plot on the trunk of the Palm which the developer said it had sold for Dh202m; and a 72,000 sq ft villa plot it had sold for Dh104.4m, a price equating to Dh1,450 per square foot.

Dubai's biggest state-owned developer also announced it was seeing a rush of demand at Jumeirah Village Circle, its 860 hectare master development south of Al Khail Road in Dubai. Nakheel said it had sold 122 villa plots at the development with transactions there exceeding Dh113m.

Ali Rashid Lootah, the Nakheel chairman, said: "Real estate in Dubai is on the move again. After the recent success of our Jumeirah Park villa launch, Nakheel has now seen investors clamouring for the newly released plots in Jumeirah Village Circle. This reveals a very clear message: confidence in Nakheel - and Dubai - is back."

The news is the latest in a long line of positive sales news to come from the indebted developer since the summer.

Back in August, Nakheel reported that it had sold a 305,704 sq ft plot of land on the Palm for Dh400m - a price equating to Dh1,302 per sq ft - as real estate prices on the palm tree shaped development rocketed up by 30 per cent over the previous 12 months.

Then in September, a crowd of at least 120 people queued through the night to get their hands on 360 villas, which the developer is building at Jumeirah Park in Dubai.

Last month, the developer behind the 2009 Dubai World crisis, which racked up billions of dirhams of debts during the Dubai property crash, reported that profits nearly doubled to Dh1.1bn in the first nine months of the year as the company benefited from Dubai's property market recovery.

At the time it reported that Palm Jumeirah prices had "crossed pre-crisis levels". The sales will help Nakheel to pay down some of the huge debts it racked up during the global financial crisis and which led to the company being taken over by the Dubai government.

The company said in its third quarter results last month that it had paid back trade creditors Dh9.4bn since it reached its restructuring agreement and that it had amicably reduced long term customer liabilities by Dh7.2bn through "various consolation and swap schemes".

In August, Nakheel said it had completed an interest and profit payment of about Dh211m to some of its lenders.