Off-plan sales for major housing projects in Dubai are set to start over the coming weeks as two more developers announced marketing launches yesterday.
In separate announcements, the Dubai-based Indian developer Sobha, and a joint venture between the Dubai developers Aristocrat Star, Pacific Ventures and PAL Developments, said that they would bring a total of 682 new off-plan homes to the market as part of wider plans to develop thousands of new homes in the city.
Sobha said it has started to sell 282 off-plan villas at its US$4 billion Sobha Hartland project in 185 acres of land – its second villa development in the ambitious Mohammed bin Rashid City mega project.
The villas, which are set to be completed in 2016, will cost from Dh12.5 million at prices starting from Dh2,006 per square foot for a 6,259 sq ft villa.
Sobha said that the project would also comprise eight low-rise apartment buildings.
“Sobha Hartland will have all the amenities a community needs spanning two schools, retail outlets, hotels, spa and entertainment facilities all in one central location,” said PNC Menon, the founder and chairman of Sobha Group.
The project is Sobha’s second scheme in the Dh21 billion Mohammed bin Rashid City, which was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in November 2012, based on a similar scheme announced in 2008.
The new mega development, which surrounds the Meydan racetrack, extends between the E44, E66 and E311 and is expected to be 30 per cent larger than London’s 15.2 million sq ft Hyde Park. It is slated to include thousands of homes as well as more than 100 hotels, golf courses and small business centres.
Last year Sobha teamed up with the racetrack developer Meydan to put together plans for District One – a project of 1,500 villas set in 1,100 acres of parkland around the world’s biggest man-made lagoon.
Sobha said that the pair had sold all 330 villas in the first phase of the District One scheme and were pressing ahead with the development.
Meanwhile at the other end of the city, Aristocrat Star, Pacific Ventures and PAL Developments announced that they would be launching the first phase of flats and town houses at the stalled Royal Estates project in Dubai Investments Park, close to the Dubai 2020 Expo site.
The Royal Estates, a project comprising 3.6 million sq ft of homes, shops and hotels, was first announced by Aristocrat Star before the global financial crisis and a Dh600m contract for works was awarded in 2009. However, as property prices in Dubai crashed work on the project stalled.
The joint venture said it would be selling 400 off-plan homes at the project to investors from August 7 with apartment prices starting from Dh450,000 and town houses from Dh1.6m. The homes are expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2016.
It added that it planned to develop a total of 2,000 homes at Royal Estates.
“The Royal Estates presents an outstanding opportunity, providing a range of choices for investors and homeowners in a locale where demand is expected to rise ahead of the Dubai 2020 Expo,” said Parvez Khan, the Pacific Ventures chairman.
According to the property agent Asteco’s latest report, average apartment prices in Dubai rose by 6 per cent between April and June, reaching Dh1,200 to Dh3,000 per sq ft in Dubai Marina – the equivalent of Dh1.2m to Dh3m for a 1,000 sq ft apartment.
Asteco reported that villa prices over the same period increased by 3 per cent with villas at Arabian Ranches and Victory Heights fetching Dh1,000 to Dh1,450 per sq ft.
“The off-plan market in Dubai is certainly back,” said Sean McCauley, the director at Asteco, “but we still have yet to see many off-plan sales at the real top end of the market. We know that developers are now marketing off plan villas for as much as Dh45m in some areas, but we haven’t heard of that many selling so far. Many of the off-plan sales we have seen so far have been for less than Dh5m.”
lbarnard@thenational.ae
