Dubai property: Damac scores 'perfect goal' with Chelsea

Dubai: In Dubai, the property market and football seem to make for a perfect pitch. At least going by the kind of demand generated for Damac Properties’ ‘Chelsea Residences’ offplan sales in recent days. It was just before the project launch that Damac confirmed its tie up with one of world’s pre-eminent football clubs.

Apartments at four of the six buildings that make up the branded residential project at Dubai Maritime City met the sale goals – almost ‘instantly’, according to local property market sources. This is even with the project commanding a higher price than some of the other recent launches at Maritime City, which under a revised masterplan has been attracting a lot of developer and property buyer attention.

“The Chelsea brand had a lot to do with the almost instant demand,” said a property agent. “This is exactly the sort of super high-profile project that Maritime City needed to take its offplan ‘game to the next level’.

Across the six ‘Chelsea’ buildings, there will be more than 1,400 apartments. Damac set the one-bedroom units at Dh2.17 million (with a per square foot of Dh2,807), two-bedrooms at Dh3.13 million (with a psf of Dh2,579) and three-bedrooms from Dh4.94 million (at Dh2,474 psf).

The price per square foot on these homes are considerably higher than the typical Maritime City rates of Dh1,800-Dh2,100.

Dubai property market sources kept the sporting metaphors ready to define the response from buyers. “With Chelsea, Damac seems to have scored the perfect goal,” said Harshad Gosar, Sales Director at RiseUp. “Clearly, buyers didn’t find any issue with the premium pricing, that’s for sure.

“There is an ample pool of buyers for new offplan launches in Dubai – and lots of first-time buyers too.”

The mention about more first-time property investors in Dubai is showing up again and again. According to a new report from Betterhomes, “Dubai’s real estate market has remained robust, with strong demand from Indian, European, Chinese, and Pakistani investors.

“Offplan developments have drawn significant interest.”

Property sources say that the demand inflow from Chinese investors will build up to ‘wave-like proportions’. This week, Dubai developer MAG announced a Dh22 billion project in association with Citic Ltd., one of China’s biggest engineering and project companies. It’s more or less a given that Chinese buyers will take a good deal of interest in the project called ‘Keturah Adha’.

“Dubai has become particularly attractive to Asian investors, especially from China, as they redirect capital flows away from unstable markets,” says the Betterhomes’ report.

The game is on…