Dubai: The muscling in of Dubai’s master-developers into the mid-market space need not impact private developers, according to the Chairman of Danube Group.
“It needn’t be a straight contest between their prices and what other developers can offer,” said Rizwan Sajan. “I believe there’s enough of a pricing flexibility within mid-market and not fixed on the lowest pricing available. In many instances, locations can play just as decisive a role.
“In our case, we are building close to Dubai Metro stations, the Mall of the Emirates and Ibn Battuta Mall. There’s also a location in Studio City, which is next to Arabian Ranches.”
Some industry circles had been speculating that with Emaar and Dubai South developing sprawling mid-tier communities, there will be intense pressure on developers to cut down their offer prices to stay in contention.
Construction schedules
According to Sajan, such an outcome will depend on the developer and not be a carte blanche. “Between the first quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2016, the prices on our projects have seen no deflection,” he added. “In recent weeks, there’s been an improvement in the rush of buying as these projects move on with their construction schedules.
“On the launches we had to date, the prices range between Dh950-Dh1,000, and our margins are not more than 20 per cent. With mid-market, there’s not much developers can play around with on the size of the units. Go beyond a particular size and that will tell on the eventual unit price.
“We have made a point of using all our units on a net rather than gross basis. These things matter to the buyer group we aim for — the salaried professional in the Dh20,000-Dh25,000 bracket.”
