Dubai’s BinGhatti wants to take affordable luxury home concept to Saudi Arabia

Dubai: One would have thought a developer with three simultaneous signature hyper-luxury projects in Dubai wouldn’t have any time to take on more.

Not for Muhammad BinGhatti, who says he is quite keen to make a move into Saudi Arabia at the first opportunity.

“We are actively discussing other opportunities in different markets,” said the Chairman of Binghatti Properties. “There’s the UK as well, but the first step, probably, will be Saudi Arabia.

“There’s quite a shortage of ‘affordable luxury homes’ in that market, though we are not completely omitting the possibility of uber-luxury too. That’s where we built a reputation as a brand.”

As BinGhatti says, Saudi Arabia’s real estate market is rife with opportunities, even if its own developers are speeding up launches of residential projects. Some of the biggest names in the UAE’s real estate space are already there, notably Emaar, while Aldar has been talking about the possibility of an imminent entry.

Any such move into the Kingdom by Binghatti will require significant capital commitments, with the Dubai developer ready for the challenge, says official. “If you look at our 2024 results, the profits we made pre-tax crossed Dh2 billion,” said BinGhatti. “That’s almost the figure we issued in terms of our sukuk. So, in terms of financial performance, I think we are in a good position, and we like to keep options open (on entering new markets).

“We have a good cash flow, we have almost $1 billion in escrow – and we’ve repaid a lot of our debt to multiple banks in a timely manner.”

On the ground in Dubai, the developer’s three tower projects carry some heavy branding, through associations with Mercedes-Benz, Bugatti and the watch and jewellery label Jacob & Co., with which it is creating the world’s tallest all-residential tower.

“Last year, we scored almost Dh10,000 per square foot on some of the Bugatti residences,” said the Chairman. “At the Jacob & Co. (skyscraper), we are selling some of the two-bedroom units for almost Dh10 million and the three-bedroom suites for Dh12 million to Dh14 million.

“There’s been no slowdown (in demand) whatsoever so far in 2025. We will have a new sales boutique in London soon, in which we’ve invested a lot. We wouldn’t have done that had we not seen the demand come from places like the UK. There’s also a huge sales showroom in Riyadh and in Shanghai.”

Taken together, the costs on the three towers easily run up to well Dh1 billion. And updates are all available out there on social media platforms.

“We do that on a weekly basis on YouTube,” said BinGhatti. “You can track the progress of each project. We have crossed 30% construction on the Mercedes-Benz project, while on the Jacob & Co, the foundations are almost pretty much done.

"It was the most challenging because of the height of the tower (above 550 meters). As such, we have done 18% construction on site and within a matter of months, you will see the project above the ground.”

All of which will happen even as BinGhatti pursues Saudi possibilities…