Business | Property
Union Properties plans to buy land for low income housing
Real estate developer Union Properties, which is building F1-themed parks, plans to buy between 40 and 60 million square feet of land in Dubai for new mid-to-low income housing projects.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 00:02 May 26, 2008
Dubai: Real estate developer Union Properties, which is building F1-themed parks, plans to buy between 40 and 60 million square feet of land in Dubai for new mid-to-low income housing projects.
"We are currently in discussions with the government and private institutions to acquire land in Dubai," chief financial officer Zaid Ghoul said in a phone interview on Sunday.
Union Properties may borrow to finance the purchase of land as the company "still has huge room to put debt on the balance sheet," Ghoul said.
The Dubai developer is building the 38 million square-metre (9,390 acres) Motor City project in the emirate, which will include an autodrome and residential units. It secured the rights to develop F1-themed parks around the world in November 2006, starting with its $360 million Dubai F1 project.
Property prices in Dubai have soared since foreigners were given the right to own real estate in limited areas in 2002 and demand outstripped supply on record population growth.
"Low cost housing is something that is tied up to the Dubai government plan to provide livable proper accommodation, and there is a certain pressure on the big developers in that area," Sana Kapadia, an analyst at EFG-Hermes Holding, said in a telephone interview from Dubai.
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