Dubai Hills home tops Dh100m for first time - signal for more to come?

Dubai: Is Dubai Hills ready to take over the mantle of being the city’s most happening place to be for super-luxury homes? Be the place for the next wave of Dh100 million plus villas, and competing with the Palm and Emirates Hills?

This week’s trends seem to suggest so – the first Dh100 million and over villa sale has just been recorded at Dubai Hills Estate, and more could be on the way. “There are four to five properties listed that are above the Dh100 million price point,” said Liam Jeffrey, Associate Director at LuxuryProperty.com. “We have seen four high-value transactions in the community over the past couple of years - but they have all been in the Dh70 million to Dh90 million range.”

According to market sources, now that the first Dh100 million plus transaction has been delivered, the ultra-rich investors will not keep to the side-lines in picking off some of the others listed for sale. If Palm delivered the Dh100 million deals in the first-half of 2021 to signal Dubai property market’s recovery (at least in the premium space), Dubai Hills has got what it takes to take the baton going forward.

A golf course and more

In the first quarter of next year, the location – set on 2,700 acres and with Emaar as master-developer – will see the opening of a new mall, offering 2.82 million square feet of prime retail and leisure options. Add in an 18-hole championship course, a 1.8 million square feet of park spread, and Dubai Hills has a lot going for it. (This is part of the first phase of MBR City and with the Meydan developments in close proximity to it.)

Villa and mansion “plots in Dubai Hills are all sold out, and the last one happened earlier this year,” said Jeffrey. “Plot pricing varies from Dh600 per square foot (the inner part of the community) to Dh1,000 (prime locations such as facing directly on the golf course). It is difficult to do a direct comparison with areas like Emirates Hills, as the market was quite different when plots were being sold there.

“On the whole, prices in Dubai Hills have gone up by roughly 20 per cent over the past 12 months as we see gradual improvements across the (premium residential) market.”

Suiting most deep pockets

Now, a buyer needn’t be thinking of spending in the millions to acquire a home at Dubai Hills. On its website for the community, Emaar sets the starting price for apartments there at Dh788,888. And further up the property chain, there are “custom-build villas that range anywhere between Dh12 million to Dh20 million on the Fairways and Parkways Vistas,” said Saad Hussain of Audax Steel, which has carried out a lot of interiors work at the development. “And go up to Dh120 million in the Dubai Hills Grove part.

“A sudden rise in the property market over the past six months has seen sales surge within Dubai Hills. A trend that seems to continue on the rise especially with the Expo 2020 nearing.”

Greens and more

Hussain’s got a point there. That Dubai Hills has emerged as a choice for those seeking a lot of green with their homes. That’s one thing buyers in a post-COVID-19 property market are insisting about. This is where the ample greens and the spread of its golf course can exert a decisive influence on a new set of buyers. “The choice of space – that’s what is drawing us to select a Dh4 million plus unit there,” said a banker, whose other options were for a Downtown apartment or a home at the Arabian Ranches expansion.

Since Dubai Hills launched at a time when trends in Dubai’s property market were softening, prices there have not seen the wild swings that more established communities have.

At the launch in early 2015, “plots were extremely well priced at around Dh350 a square foot and have since reached Dh700-Dh1,100 depending on plot location and sizes,” said Hussain. ”I firmly believe plot prices and the overall residential development will increase further as it nears and reaches completion. We saw a similar case in communities like Emirates Hills and Palm, where prices have reached up to Dh2,500 a square foot and even levels of Dh3,000.”

At about Dh1,000 a square foot, Dubai Hills still have some way to go – and which could make for an interesting few weeks ahead for buyers and sellers there. How soon will the next Dh100 million home sale happen at Dubai Hills?