Dubai: Dubai’s property market has got its first twin-tower launch of 2019 – a 28-storey, 150-metre high project in Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, near Meydan district. It will be built by Sobha Realty and within the Sobha Hartland cluster, which until now was more about villas and low-rise apartment buildings.
There will be about 400 units spread between the ‘Creek Vistas’, with prices at Dh800,000-Dh1 million for a one-bed (of 500-600 square feet) and Dh1.2 million to Dh1.4 million for a two-bed (between 800-900 square feet). Completion of the canal-side development is scheduled for mid-2021.
“We felt the interest is shifting slowly from affordable housing options, which made up the majority of homes being launched and sold in Dubai from end 2017 onwards,” said Tirthankar Ganguly, Chief Marketing Officer at Sobha. “But that meant developers were pushing smaller apartment sizes and at locations distant from where the action used to be. This meant making compromises.
“We reckon buyers are getting back looking at property options that are not the cheapest out there.”
Property buyers have quite a few choices when it comes to twin-towers in Dubai. Nakheel has been calling in “expressions of interest” for the Palm360, a residential and hotel combo on the Palm that will be managed by Raffles. (The main construction work for this development is currently one of the most eagerly awaited in Dubai. The taller one will be 260 metres high.)
As for planned ones that are yet to be launched, Azizi has talked about launching a twin-tower near Safa Park on Shaikh Zayed Road.
After a tough last year when offplan launches were few, this January has proved an exceptionally busy one for developers in terms of bringing out new projects. Meraas brought out its Cherrywood Townhouses from Dh1.1 million on Al Qudra Road and Emaar came up multiple launches such as Arabian Ranches Phase 3 and the Golf villas in Dubai South. Danube has just launched “Elz” at Al Furjan, and the likes of Damac and Azizi are having periodic sales releases at their existing projects.
For the Creek Vistas, Sobha has already gone some distance on the sales side. From June last year, it had been working its sales networks for units from the first to the 14th floors. Today marks the formal project launch and when units at the higher storeys will be put out.
“There are first-generation property buyers in Dubai that are seeking out homes that tick the boxes for them,” said Ganguly. “We managed to test the waters through the last months, and can now be reasonably confident of getting buyers for the rest.”
