Emaar up as Dubai rebounds

A resurgence in the Dubai housing market has led Emaar, the property company behind the world's tallest building, to more than double its income from apartment sales this year.

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A resurgence in the Dubai housing market has led Emaar, the property company behind the world's tallest building, to more than double its income from apartment sales this year.

The company, one of the biggest developers in the region, said its income from selling flats in its luxury high-rise schemes had risen by 163 per cent in the year from Dh265.6 million (US$72.3m) in the second quarter of last year to Dh699.3m in the same quarter this year.

Reporting its detailed results for the three months to June yesterday, the Burj Khalifa developer said cash from leased properties also grew during the year to Dh642m inthe second quarter from Dh549m in the same period last year.

The sales helped Emaar to post gross profits of Dh1.1 billion for the quarter - a 17 per cent increase from the same time last year.

The company's shares yesterday were riding high at Dh3.46. They have been following a general upward trajectory since hitting a low point of Dh2.80 at the end of June.

Cash from villa sales slid by 3.3 per cent from Dh337m to Dh326m as the company concentrated on high-rise schemes in its Emirates Living and Downtown Dubai communities.

Revenue from selling off shops, offices, plots of land and other assets also fell by 80.5 per cent to Dh116m.

In its full financial results for the second quarter posted yesterday on the Dubai Financial Market, the developer confirmed its July 29 statement it had benefited from a revival in the Dubai property market to post an operating profit of Dh1.22bn for the first half of the year - a 45 per cent increase on the same period last year. Total revenues grew slightly from Dh2bn in the second quarter last year to Dh2.1bn.

The Emaar chairman, Mohammed Alabbar, said in July the results were an indication "the real estate market in Dubai is turning around ... [and] the city's appeal to high net-worth individuals as the ideal destination for a home is also gaining strength".

The company was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Matthew Green, the head of research and consultancy in the UAE for the property consultancy CBRE said Emaar's dramatic increase in apartment sales was part of a wider property revival in the Dubai luxury market.

"We are seeing an uptick in sales in the best locations in Dubai and Emaar is one of the most established property developers in the region and with one of the best reputations in the market," he said.

"Over the last 18 months we have started to see a number of foreign cash-buyers coming into the Dubai market … we expect this trend to continue over the coming months."

Emaar said it had recently reached an agreement with Dubai Properties Group to buy land on Al Qudra Road in Dubai on which to build a mixed-use development.