Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s biggest developer, is returning to development with three new projects and studying plans for an additional 20 amid a nascent recovery in the emirate’s property market, the company’s chairman said today.
Aldar, which took over a smaller rival in June, will start sales of three residential developments in Abu Dhabi valued at a total of 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion). The projects include 540 apartments in the first phase of Ansam and 230 units in Al Hadeel, both of which are open to foreign buyers. More than 140 plots of land on an island will be sold to U.A.E. citizens, Abubaker Seddiq Al Khoori said at a news conference in Abu Dhabi.
“The projects will be self-financed” through advance sales, Al Khoori said. The company won’t need to raise any funding for it, he said.
Developers in the U.A.E. suffered as the global credit crisis caused a speculative bubble to burst in 2008. Builders were forced to cancel projects as buyers, who acquired properties before they were built, defaulted on thousands of purchases.
Aldar sustained losses that led to more than $9.8 billion in government bailouts in 2011 after Abu Dhabi’s property market crashed. The developer, which is central to the emirate’s efforts to transform itself into a business and tourism hub, was combined with Sorouh Real Estate last year as the government sought to revive the real estate industry.
With its new projects, Aldar will ban buyers from reselling the properties before paying half of their value, the chairman said. The developer will also limit the number of properties buyers can purchase before development, he said.
Aldar may appoint a chief executive officer in the next three months, the chairman said. The company is also planning to open its delayed Yas Mall in November, Deputy CEO Mohammed Al Mubarak said today.
Aldar aims to complete the three projects by March 2017. Construction contracts will be tendered by July and awarded by the end of this year to start building in early 2015, Chief Development Officer Gurjit Singh said.
The developer has a land bank of around 77 million square meters, of which 90 percent is in investment zones open to foreign ownership, the chairman said.-Bloomberg
