It's tee time for a better life on Dubai's luxury golf estates

Golf’s exclusivity and aspirational value as a rich man’s game are being successfully exploited by Dubai’s property developers. The emirate offers nearly a dozen golf courses, many of championship standard, and with more being developed, investment in golfing properties is on the rise.

Investors are willing to spend with the opportunities these estates provide — a combination of privacy and landscaped greens with high returns on investment — although analysts advise taking a closer look at the course before teeing off.

Premium punch

About 22 per cent of luxury residential sales over Dh5 million in the first half of this year were in golf communities such as Emirates Hills, The Lakes, Arabian Ranches and Victory Heights, according to data from research firm Reidin.com and luxury real estate broker Luxhabitat.

Houses located alongside golf courses can help developers increase sales velocity and add a premium to real estate prices as well, according to KPMG’s Golf Advisory. 
Its latest report, released last year, estimates the premium for integrated properties at more than 20 per cent higher on sales price than similar real estate units nearby without a golf connection. The report says golf courses come second only to a waterfront as the most desirable location for a housing community. 
“As a developer, we’ve chosen to create a world-class lifestyle for residents and investors alike, with the recent opening of the Clubhouse and the popularity of our unique offering — the European Tour Performance Institute — designed to enhance the performance of members, guests and visitors [all] year,” says Yousuf Kazim, CEO, Jumeirah Golf Estates. The property is home to two championship golf courses designed by Greg Norman, and the DP World Tour Championship.
Naturally, developers pull out all the stops to ensure time-pressed, stressed-out residents are catered to. “Both our Fire and Earth courses are floodlit at night, offering evening golf sessions for avid golfers wanting to beat the heat during summer,” says Kazim.

Race To Dubai

Widely acknowledged as one of the most desirable locations in the world for luxury experiences, Dubai is now regularly ranked among the most influential and up-and-coming golf destinations in the world, thanks to a combination of quality product and clever event marketing.

“Dubai is one of the top six global golf tourism destinations, with more than 1.6 million tourists each year enjoying its outstanding courses, which combine to create a very attractive destination,” says Niall McLoughlin, Senior Vice-President, Damac Properties, citing the KPMG report. The developer is capitalising on the growth opportunities in golf communities with two developments that are home to 18-hole, championship-standard courses managed by The Trump Organization.

Gil Hanse’s course at the Trump International Golf Club at Akoya by Damac is about
97 per cent complete and set to open in the next six months, says McLoughlin. Akoya Oxygen’s Trump World Golf Club has a course by Tiger Woods Design and is scheduled for a 2017 opening. “We believe Trump golf fans from around the world will come to experience the two new courses here in Dubai,” he adds.

Within reach

At Jumeirah Golf Estates, the most recent district released was AlAndalus, a collection of Mediterranean-inspired town houses and apartments with a community centre. “AlAndalus residents will enjoy the same quality and lifestyle as all residents of Jumeirah Golf Estates, with a level of luxury not previously available to the mid-scale market,” says Kazim. “When defining our development strategy, we could not bypass the strong demand for mid-market homes in the emirate,” he told Gulf News
in May.

An entry-level semi-detached villa with a private plunge pool is Dh5 million, says Paul Clark, Luxury Sales Specialist, Luxhabitat. Or you could get a 12,000-square-foot property for close to Dh30 million. He points to the Dubai Hills project, where he says four-bedroom contemporary town houses in the Maple development are being sold off-plan for Dh2.5 million, while the most expensive villas in Hills Grove — just shell and core —  reach Dh45.5 million. “A bargain if you consider top-of-the-line properties in Emirates Hills sell for well over Dh100 million,” he says. “I expect Dubai Hills to be the new Emirates Hills with plenty of takers.”

The 11-million-square-metre development is a mere three kilometres from the Burj Khalifa and comes with the requisite 18-hole golf course, as well as 14 tennis courts, 45km of natural trails, four schools and two hotels. Among its 2,000 villas are properties ranging in size from 4,500 to 22,000 square feet.

Cautious view

It appears prudent that the market is creating various tiers. Although golf course villas are attractive in Dubai and can achieve higher values than villas without that proximity, the villa market as a whole has seen transaction levels drop across the board this year, points out Richard Paul, Head of Residential Valuations at Cluttons UAE.
“During the second quarter, villa values on average declined 3.4 per cent, dragging the annual rate of change down to -7 per cent,” he says. The first six months of 2015 registered a 5.1 per cent drop in average villa prices, which now stand at Dh1,421 per square foot.

“Villas that are part of a golf course community are not resilient to general market conditions and are still experiencing a softening in demand and prices,” he adds. “The villa market continues to bear the brunt of the federal mortgage cap, which has made affordability a central issue for potential buyers who are now required to hold significant equity to fund upfront costs.

“Furthermore, rising supply levels, particularly of golf course communities, are dampening the prospect of any immediate turnaround in the performance of this segment.”