Dubai Property Real Estate & Dubai Investments

Empire International Investments, the real estate division of the multidisciplinary Empire Group, announced today that 35%, which equates to 160 units, in their prestigious ‘Empire Tower’ development have sold and that sales remain buoyant despite a recent price increase of 12%.

LLJ Property the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the project have witnessed a massive demand for apartments in the building from clients across the UAE and overseas.

Empire Tower has a broad appeal as it is competitively priced, with payment terms pegged to construction delivery and an interesting mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom apartments.

Linda Loughnane, Managing Director of LLJ Property commented; “Sales have been extremely brisk as more investors wake up to the potential of the Abu Dhabi market and, Empire Tower is an excellent product offering potentially good returns for investors and owner occupiers alike.

In addition, 2007 has been a very strong year, we have seen lots of key announcements like the deals with the Guggenheim and the Louvre, whilst the Government of Abu Dhabi has revealed clear, well thought out plans about the development of the emirate over the next two decades.

Clients recognize these positive moves which are drivers of demand for quality residential and commercial property and can see clearly why Abu Dhabi is now the place to invest.”

Project spending within the emirate is estimated to exceed Dhs.1.2 trillion according to the latest figures from the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, with the lion’s share of Dhs.850 million being absorbed by the construction sector.

The volume of real estate sales within Abu Dhabi has risen steadily over the past 12 months with price increases being driven by the demand for quality residential and commercial property in the city.

This is good news for those who are investing in the market now, as they are able to see significant growth in their investments in the early months. Although the secondary market is only just beginning some investors are already trading property and making healthy profits.

Empire Tower is the first real estate project within Abu Dhabi for Empire International Investments, their Chairman, Haytham Al-Tajir is delighted with the results of their experience in the market to date; “We recognized early on that the plans for Abu Dhabi made it an interesting proposition for us as developers. We have invested in a prominent plot and designed a distinctive building which will impact on the future skyline of the city.

These elements combined with the appointment of LLJ Property as our exclusive sales agents have given us an edge in the market and enabled the sale of 35% of the project in 12 weeks.”

A price increase across the market has been inevitable as construction costs are rising, driven by increased demand in the sector and the inflation of material prices caused by the weakening of the dollar.

However market analysts continue to predict further price increases as they believe that property in the city is currently undervalued. This makes property in the emirate an investment with potential for high capital gains.

LLJ Property are confident in predicting further price increases into 2008 as more product is launched and the new Abu Dhabi begins to rise.

Empire Tower will be selling on stand B8 at the International Real Estate and Investment Show taking place at ADNEC from 30th January to 2nd February 2008.

Emaar Properties has won the ‘Property Company of the Year’ for the second time in a row at the Arabian Business Achievement Awards. The award recognises the overall performance of the company including product quality, service and growth strategies.

Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director - UAE, Emaar Properties, received the award from Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of State for Governmental Sector Development, at the Arabian Business Achievement Awards.

Dubai Maritime City, the world’s first purpose-built maritime centre and a member of the Dubai World Group of Companies, has announced that it has recently sold out the first phase plots of the maritime complex’s commercial and residential districts to leading international developers and contractors. The first and second phase of the maritime complex’s construction has been completed on schedule, with the 1.2 kilometre six-lane causeway connecting the project to Dubai fully complete, while around 50% of the industrial precinct in the City is now operational, according to a statement.

Emirates International Properties (EIP), an Abu Dhabi based development company is planning to $381.6m marina in the emirate. The Abu Dhabi Marina will be located on the Khor Al Bateen waterway and include a five-star hotel, hotel apartments, residential apartments, townhouses, offices and commercial space, as well as restaurants and retail outlets. While construction is expected to begin next year the scheduled is in 2011.

The Kuwaiti real estate market is currently witnessing an active wave of buying and selling both at home and abroad, especially with the entering of winter when transactions become bullish.

The number of property units bought or sold until late October is predicted to hit 500 units, be they housing or investment, Al-Mutakhsis Real Estate Company Chairman Faraj Al-Khudhari told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Saturday.
However, most Kuwaiti real estate companies did not pay much attention to customers’ services, including phone services, selling centers, specialized salesmen and warranties, he said.

Property companies in Kuwait in general may get good rankings reaching 70 percent at available selling centers, compared to nearly 30 percent for phone services and 50 percent for specialized salesmen and warranties, he added.
The percentage of property companies that can meet such criteria does not exceed seven percent of Kuwait’s total real estate businesses, Al-Khudhari noted.

A successful property company is required to provide professional real estate services to customers, he requested.
However, he sounded the alarm about the orientation of Gulf construction contractors towards implementing only plush and luxurious projects for the sake of opulent and wealthy groups, sending the market into serious trouble just as the ones that dented the US and Canadian real estate markets.

The UAE’s construction sector faces a manpower shortage that could delay a number of projects, reported Gulf News. Analysts say Indian workers, who make up about 80% of the UAE’s construction workforce, are shying away due to high inflation and the decreasing value of dirhams against a strong rupee.

Fuelled by increasing disposable income and falling barriers Qatar real estate market growth is sustainable, Markaz study shows
Kuwait Financial Centre ‘Markaz’ in its Qatar real estate report, forecasts the current growth rates in the real estate market in Qatar to be sustainable.

The demand-led price growth has been a reflection of the buoyant economic conditions in Qatar. Untill 2003, Qatar GDP grew at a rate less than 8% p.a. Since 2003, the rate of growth has not dipped below 11%.

The real estate growth has been supported by increasing disposables incomes and importantly the opening up of the sector to foreigners to buy real estate. This had resulted in the demand supply gap to widen in the last three years, with demand outstripping supply.

The growth in economy has in turn resulted in an increase in the expatriate population. The factor of expatriate population is important in Qatar as expatriates form almost 67% of the population. In the last six years, expatriate population in the country has increased by 5% on a CAGR basis. Apart from this, in 2004, the Qatar government relaxed its real estate policies to allow foreigners to own real estate. In addtion, the increase in personal disposable incomes and the resultant change in preferences of consumers from apartments to villas, all of these drivers generated considerable pressure on an already stretched supply.

Currently, demand is outstripping supply in all the spheres of Qatar real estate - Residential and Commercial (office, retail, hospitality, and Industrial) segments.

Residential
Demand, for both freehold and leasehold residential units outstrips the supply in Qatar. However, ‘Markaz’ expects the shortage ratio to narrow down going forward, as it expects Doha (major housing market) to see more supply of housing units by 2010. Building permits issued to the residential sector have surged by 27% on a YoY basis in 2005.

On the supply front, apartments witnessed the highest growth (62.6%) in residential units completed in 2005. This is primarily attributable to the strong growth in expatriates in Qatar who prefer to live in apartments.
‘Markaz’ estimates that Qatar will require approximately 250,000 housing units by 2010, while supply would be around 244,000 units. Expatriates would account for approximately 75% (187,000 units) of the total housing units required. This would translate into an addition of 27,000 housing units every year on an average between 2008 and 2010.

On the pricing of units and rentals, the scenario of demand outstripping supply has ensured greater appreciation in prices and rentals. Land prices in the major housing projects such as ‘Pearl Qatar’ have witnessed over 100% appreciation in the last twelve months. Average annual housing rents have increased by 47% between 2003 and 2005. Doha witnessed the highest growth in rentals among the major cities in GCC region, between November 2004 and November 2006. Rental level for a two-bedroom apartment in Doha in 2006 stood at $1,930 per month, which is almost three times of what prevails in Riyadh.

Commercial
The demand for the office space is also outstripping supply in Qatar. Due to this shortage, rents and prices have risen significantly in the office segment. The average annual office rents in Central Business District (CBD) of Doha, has increased by 37% since August 2005.

This is primarily due to increasing number of foreign companies entering Qatar. Consequently, Doha in particular is experiencing strong demand for office space, with supply lagging by as long as eighteen months.

Although new supply of office space is expected to come on stream in 2008, however, this additional space will not satisfy the buoyant demand. Hence, it is expected that rentals growth rates to stay firm in near term. However, the demand-supply gap is expected to narrow down between 2008 and 2010, causing rental prices to stabilise.

Capital market representation and performance of real estate stocks
The real estate sector in Qatar is much smaller compared to countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in terms of market capitalisation. This can be observed from the fact that only Qatar Real Estate Investment Company features within the top 40 real estate stocks (in terms of market cap) in GCC region. On July 2007, the four companies - Qatar Real Estate Investment, Barwa Real Estate Company, Salam International Investment and United Development Company accounted for only 6.7% of the total market capitalisation of Doha stock exchange.

On the performance front, real estate stocks in Qatar have outperformed the broad market index during the last year. However, the real estate stocks in the last year proved to be riskier than the benchmark index. Barwa Real Estate Company generated the maximum return, and United Development Company provided lowest return. While Barwa Real Estate Company proved to be the riskiest stock, United Development remained the least risky.

Press Release: AME Info

Dubai’s Palm and World projects are iconic developments that have captured the world’s imagination.

While construction of these massive artificial islands has been an enormous task, they are moving ahead at great speed, according to Manal Shaheen, Director of Sales, Marketing & Customer Service for Nakheel, the projects’ developer. Following is an overview of the progress that has been made on each of the island developments.

The Palm Jumeirah

When the Palm Jumeirah project was first announced in 2001, it seemed overly ambitious or even impossible, yet it is very much a reality, said Shaheen. The Palm Jumeirah is now the largest man-made island in the world and can be viewed from outer space. Construction of the island, which consists of a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent that forms an 11 kilometre-long breakwater, required 94 million cubic metres of sand and seven million tonnes of rock.

The first phase of the Palm Jumeirah residences is already at an advanced stage, with 75 per cent of the 4,000 properties ready for handover. This includes all 20 Shoreline Apartment buildings on the trunk, which house more than 2,600 units. In late 2006, people began moving in, and Nakheel says some 500 families now live on the island.

A number of hotels are also being built on the island, including Atlantis, The Palm - a 1,500 room resort hotel and water theme park - which is expected to open by November 2008. In addition, 28 beachfront hotels, located on the crescent section of the Palm, will be open by the end of 2009, with most of the word’s top brands represented including Hilton, Radisson, and Movenpick.

Construction is also set to begin soon on the centerpiece of the island, The Trump International Hotel and Tower, which will be a luxury 61 storey mixed-use hotel and residential building located on the trunk of the Palm.

Another key feature of the development, the 5.4km-long Palm Monorail, the first of its kind in the Middle East, is due to open at the end of 2008.

Adding to the island’s luster, the world’s most famous passenger liner, the QE2, will be refurbished and berthed near the Palm Jumeirah, to become a luxury floating hotel, retail and entertainment destination, Shaheen said.

Construction of the island has not been without its controversies though. Initial work did not allow for sea flow, leaving water stagnating in between the fronds. Nakheel resolved this, but has faced criticism from environmentalists over the potential damage this - and the other man-made islands - are causing to local sealife.

Palm Jebel Ali

Work on the Palm Jebel Ali, which is located near the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border, began in 2002. The master plan for the island has evolved and is now integrated with the Dubai Waterfront project, which is a large collection of man-made islands, shaped in an arc, which will produce a shelter around the palm-shaped island.

When completed, the Palm Jebel Ali will be the centre of a completely new city, which will be home to up to 1.7 million people by 2020. It will offer 70km of beaches, luxury hotels, and a mixture of housing types.

Construction of the island is currently progressing on schedule, with primary breakwater work completed in December 2006, and reclamation of land from the original master plan now finished. Work on the island’s infrastructure began in April 2007, starting with construction of six bridges that will connect the island to the mainland.

The first properties on the island are expected to be ready by the end of 2010. To date, all released properties have been sold with many experiencing premiums of 100 per cent. Further sales will continue in phases, to be announced based on demand. Construction on the residences will not begin until a large portion of the infrastructure is in place, Shaheen said.

Palm Deira

The Palm Deira will be the world’s largest man-made island when complete, eight times bigger in land mass than the Palm Jumeirah and five times bigger than the Palm Jebel Ali. It will stretch 12.5km into the sea, be 7.5km wide, and create a new city within Dubai for more than a million people.

To date, approximately 20 per cent of the land reclamation is complete. More than 200 million cubic metres of sand have already been used for reclamation, which is 80 per cent more than the total amount of sand used to create the Palm Jumeirah.

Due to its sheer size and scale, the development will be implemented in specific phases. The first phase, ‘Deira Island,’ will be connected by bridges with the current area of Deira, between the mouth of Dubai Creek and Port Hamriya, Shaheen said.

In May of this year Nakheel released a new masterplan for the project that reduced the length of the island that stretches off the Dubai coast by 3.5km. Palm Deira operations officer Abdullah bin Sulayem said at the time that the depth of the Arabian Gulf increases substantially moving further away from the coastline, therefore the design changes will result in considerable savings on construction time and sand volume. No timetable for the completion of the project has been given.

The World

The World is a collection of 300 man-made islands in the shape of the world map located 4km from Dubai’s coast. The development can only be reached by boat, seaplane, or helicopter.

About 320 million cubic metres of sand have been used to create the islands, which will range in size from 150,000 square feet to 450,000 square feet, with the average island measuring approximately 300,000 square feet. The average distance between islands is 100 metres.

Land reclamation on the World is nearly complete and should be finished in 2008, when the first investors will begin constructing their developments. Most of the islands are now in place and these will add 232km of beachfront, albeit exclusive, to Dubai’s coastline.

Sales of the individual islands are by invitation only. As of May 2007, 45 per cent of the World had been sold, including 20 islands in the first four months of 2007. The cost of an island ranges between $15-$45m.

A number of celebrities have been rumoured to have bought into the project, including former Motley Crue member Tommy Lee, who is reported to have purchased the island of Greece for his former wife Pamela Anderson. Reports have also linked UK celebrities Rod Stewart and David Beckham to the project, but neither of these has been confirmed.

Source: ameinfo.com

Rents in Abu Dhabi will keep rising until the end of the decade, as demand for housing will continue to outpace supply, according to a report by the Abu Dhabi-based investment bank The National Investor. After a large number of projects are delivered in 2010, there is likely to be an oversupply that could threaten the value of the local housing market, the report said.

UAE stocks shot up on heavy trading yesterday where more than Dh3.5 billion worth of shares changed hands of which Dh2.73 billion were in Dubai.

The market capitalisation of the listed companies increased by more than Dh10 billion on account of the strong gains of the real estate sector in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The Emirates Securities general index advanced by 1.62 per cent to 4,649.33, accumulating 15.34 per cent of gains since the beginning of 2007.

In Dubai, the benchmark index advanced by 2.17 per cent to 4,473.47 with all the leading shares reporting tangible gains.

The Dubai Financial Market’s (DFM) shares gained 6.57 per cent to close at Dh3.57, while Air Arabia resumed its strong advance and added a 6.16 per cent to its value to end at Dh1.55.

Emaar Properties maintained the uptrend as well on account of the positive developments and optimistic forecasts for the third quarter. The developer advanced 2.73 per cent to Dh11.30.

Only one company ended the session in the red, while many experts are seeing the current uptrend as a turning point towards more bullish trend that will last up to the first quarter of 2008.

“Institutional investors are already consolidating their positions in anticipation of the coming market rally,” commented Khaled Abdul Rahman, general manager of Abu Dhabi Fin-ancial Services.

“The market’s short-term prospects have never been better, and we did advice our clients that now represents the best time for buying many of the listed shares,” he added.

In Abu Dhabi, the general index added 1.08 per cent to its value to close at 3,696.37, approaching the barrier of 3,700, with many analysts adjusting the target to higher levels.

Aldar Properties remained on track towards the Dh10 and gained more than four per cent to close at Dh9.04, while Sorouh Real Estate crossed the Dh5 mark and ended the session at Dh5.01 gaining 1.83 per cent.

New listing: Emirates NBD gets Esca approval

Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (Esca) has approved the listing of Emirates NBD on UAE stock markets within the first category.

This brings the number of listed public joint-stock companies to 127, out of which 25 are foreign companies.