Dubai: Affordability has hit even the golf community in Dubai — Jumeirah Golf Estates has launched a new residential cluster with prices starting from Dh597,000 and far removed from the multimillion dirham villas it has had until now. The Dubai Government owned developer also confirmed plans for a new master plan for phases two and three next year.

On offer are 550 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments as well as 75 two-, three- and four-bedroom town houses in what has been branded the Al Andalus quarter. “We’re expanding the community’s offering to cater to current market demands,” said Yousuf Kazim, CEO of JGE, which also reported profits of Dh430 million last year, a 68 per cent gain on 2013’s numbers.

“When defining our development strategy, we cannot pass by the strong demand for mid-market homes in the emirate. This is not to say that ‘luxury’ residential no longer has a place — it does and it will continue to do so.

“Through AlAndalus, we are simply creating an even more diverse real estate proposition within Jumeirah Golf Estates that meets the needs of a sizeable, growing and captive market of buyers.”

The master-development — host to the season closing DP World Tour Championship for the last six years and which has just renewed it until 2017 — already has a fairly sizeable resident base of more than 700 families.

To date, it has launched 14 residential neighbourhoods as part of phases 1 and 2, of which eight are fully developed. The location is off Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, between the Green Community and Dubai Sports City.

“There were a lot of buyers who came on board during the fourth quarter after prices went through a period of correction,” said Cecilia Reinaldo, Managing Director at Fine & Country. “That spurt of interest has continued into this year, and there’s still a fair degree of buying support. These are fairly large sized villas, of 4,000 square feet and over.

“Even now, JGE remains one of the best kept secrets in Dubai’s property market — it’s only when someone passes by or enters it that they realise how far developed it is and the residential options on offer.”

According to Reinaldo, prices are now in the range of Dh1,300 a square foot for a view which is not in sight of a golf course and between Dh1,500-Dh1,600 a square foot for one with a view.

Future owners of the AlAndalus units will have the same access to the facilities as owners of pricier residences.

“This means residents will have access to two championship golf courses (Earth and Fire), the newly opened clubhouse and training facilities at the European Tour Performance Institute.

“(Also), in the heart of AlAndalus, a community centre is taking shape and is set to benefit the all JGE homeowners with retail, hospitality and F & B spaces,” said Kazim.

“We naturally see local and global interest from golfers wishing to play on our courses. The number of rounds of golf continues to increase year-on-year, with a more than 30 per cent jump since 2013 to an estimated 68,250 rounds in 2015.”