Dubai: The steady pace of new off-plan launches happening at Dubai Silicon Oasis, as well as at some other mid-tier locations within the city, is ensuring values remain bound within a certain range and within the reach of genuine end-users.
Prices in Silicon Oasis have averaged between Dh600-Dh700 a square foot over the last six months. With enough new supply coming direct from developers, there is little or no need to go via the secondary market and the higher charges (related to transfer/registration) that come with that route.
On Tuesday, it was the turn of Binghatti Developers to launch a project — and with a distinctive Cubist touch to it rather than being a plain-vanilla mid-rise — at Silicon Oasis. The ground plus eight-storey structure will have 222 apartments, with values ranging between Dh650-Dh1,000 a square foot.
A pre-launch programme had seen 20 per cent of the units being acquired by investors and the official sales programme commences on May 2.
“The reason we decided to go with a distinctive design was to stand out in a highly saturated market,” said Mohammad Al Jbori, CEO of Binghatti Developers, the recently created property arm of Binghatti Group. The entity is also part of the joint venture developing the ‘Sparkle Towers’ in Dubai Marina and which features an association with Swarovski.
“We had earlier built two projects at Silicon Oasis, but that were sold to institutional investors. This is the first time we are going direct to [retail] buyers.
“There’s still a lot of buying activity being generated by end-users and that’s whom we are aiming for.”
The project is 60 per cent complete on the construction side and headed for completion by year-end. The developer also has a pre-approval agreement with Sharjah Islamic Bank, with buyers required to put up 60 per cent of the property’s cost after completion.
According to market sources, launches that took place earlier in the year at Silicon Oasis were able to close out sales without too much difficultly. Developers have also been keen to clear their books by stretching a sizeable portion of instalments after handover, which also eases the cost of entry for prospective buyers.
Another big plus for the master-development is that much of the infrastructure works are already well in place.
“Even with the plethora of launches, there finally appears to be a market and developer segmentation taking place,” Sameer Lakhani, managing director of Global Capital Partners, said.
“Away from the premium realty space, developers who have started catering to the mid-income space has their track record as well as project status independently audited by Rera [Real Estate Regulatory Agency] on a continuing basis. This provides the much needed comfort to the individual investor.
“While first-time developers have responded with more relaxed payment plans, more established players are still able to sell depending on price and location,” he said.
“This is what is leading the market to be more mature — the supply overhang largely extends to particular areas and segments and is not true of the whole market.”
