Category: Real Estate & Construction

Dubai property developer Nakheel is a targeting a 15 percent increase in annual profit in 2014 as it launches new projects and expands its leasing income, the firm's chairman said on Wednesday.Government-run Nakheel agreed a $16 billion debt restructuring in 2011 in the wake of a property crash that sent Dubai's house prices tumbling by more than half from a 2008 peak, oversupply and the global financial crisis ending years of fervent speculation.Yet the emirate's real sector is resurgent, with

DAMAC Properties has unveiled a luxury serviced hotel apartments project at the heart of the emirate’s proposed Expo 2020 site.Celestia, as it is known, will comprise of studios, one and two bedroom apartments across an eight-floor complex and will be located in Dubai World Central Residential City, near to the new Al Maktoum International Airport.Facilities will include a retail area featuring fine-dining restaurants and designer boutiques, as well as state-of-the-art fitness and leisure amenities.Prices start from AED621,000 ($169,000), with the

Qatar has the highest per capita investment in Dubai realty in 2013 (AED6.71 million), followed by Oman (AED5.77 million), the UAE (AED4.56 million), Saudi Arabia (AED3.71 million), Germany (AED2.37 million), India (AED2.22 million) and Britain (AED2.11 million).These figures were released in connection with the International Property Show (IPS), which will be held from April 8-10, supported by the Dubai Land Department (DLD). According to the same DLD report, international real estate transactions during 2013 exceeded AED114 billion.The organizers of the

Only a thin blue hoarding separates the busy shopping district of Downtown Dubai from the new waterside office and residential area of Business Bay – yet the two locations feel worlds apart.Turn right along a narrow road from The Dubai Mall and you are suddenly faced with piles of sand and heaps of junk. Shiny green glass buildings stand next to half-finished structures of grey skeletal concrete stalled by the downturn.This is Business Bay, one of the areas of Dubai

Heavy morning fog and zero visibility driver alerts notwithstanding, hundreds of investors descended at Emaar Properties' Downtown sales office early on Saturday to buy townhouses in Mira Oasis in the Reem master development.But as the numbers swelled, Dubai's largest developer cancelled the first-come first-served approach and adopted an "online registration"system in order to manage the crowd."There was a huge rush at the Emaar sales office

TASWEEK Real Estate Development and Marketing PJSC – an advisor and solutions provider serving the real estate markets, has adopted a new organizational structure to manage the positive growth in the UAE real estate sector, driven by the increasing confidence and heightened optimism among the investors and buyers in the country.The restructuring in its organizational structure comes amidst the TASWEEK study which revealed that the real estate industry offers amazing returns on investments between 9% and 12% per annum in

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), the legal arm of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), is encouraging people to register complaints against real estate agencies making cold calls.Complaints have been received against three companies engaged in making unsolicited calls to potential clients and property owners.“A new regulatory article has been introduced by us that covers telemarketing.“We encourage anyone who has a complaint in this regard to contact us and request to speak with the Inspection Department,” Yousif Al Hashimi, Deputy

Dubai house prices are only 15 percent short of their 2008 peak and will return to those pre-crisis highs within 18 months, consultant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said on Monday.The emirate outpaced all major property markets last year, with prices climbing more than 22 percent as billions of dollars of government real estate projects triggered a buying binge among investors.The fast growth, however, has raised concern about a potential repeat of the property market bubble that sent prices plunging by

Dubai-based builder Arabtec Holding said on Sunday it would set up five new subsidiaries as it expands into new markets and infrastructure projects.Two of the units will focus on infrastructure projects inside and outside the United Arab Emirates, one will focus on water and energy project and one will concentrate on the Egyptian market, it said in a bourse statement.Arabtec will also set up an investment firm, Arabtec Capital, to provide global financial services.

Dubai-based construction firm Arabtec said it would build 37 major buildings worth 22.44 billion dirhams ($6.1 billion) for Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in a fresh sign of the dramatic recovery of local estate markets.Confirming a Reuters story on Saturday, Arabtec said the deal was one of the largest ever in the region's real estate sector and Arabtec's biggest by value.In a bourse statement on Sunday, Arabtec also quoted Aabar Properties chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi

Arabtec Holding, a big Dubai-based construction firm, said it was discussing a number of large projects with the Iraqi government and would open an office in Baghdad to help its business in the country.The office will promote ventures which Arabtec formed last year with South Korea's Samsung Engineering and GS Engineering & Construction, in line with the company's strategy of diversifying into higher-margin segments such as infrastructure and oil and gas, it said on Wednesday.Last week, Arabtec said it planned

Major Dubai-based builder Arabtec Holding said on Tuesday that one of its units had been awarded a 2.59 billion dirham ($705 million) construction contract on Abu Dhabi's Al Reem Island.The project will house a five-star hotel and a residential tower, and will be built within three years, it said in a bourse statement, adding that the deal had pushed its contract backlog to a record high of more than 33 billion dirhams.Arabtec, which built Dubai's famous palm-shaped islands, has been

By Parag DeulgaonkarAn increasing number of developers in Dubai are issuing final termination notices to investors before their properties are foreclosed for non-payment of dues.Since the beginning of the year, developers such as Damac Properties, Time Properties, The Wave LLC, Triplanet International and ETA Star have issued notices, asking defaulters to rectify their status by paying the monies due. These notices are mandatory according to the law issued by Dubai Land Department (DLD) before it cancels the contract and hands

Dubai builder Arabtec Holding said on Monday that it had no plans to increase its stake in interior contracting firm Depa.Recent media speculation about increasing its stake in Depa was baseless and "there are no plans at this stage", Arabtec said in a statement on Dubai's bourse.The Dubai-based contractor acquired a 24 percent stake in Depa in Nov. 2012 for 241.7 million dirhams ($65.8 million).Shares in Depa have risen 94.3 percent year-to-date, partly on speculation of Arabtec raising its stake

People who want to rent homes in Dubai will now have to provide a statement of income from their employer to landlords before leasing a property. This new condition was revealed recently by a regional website, but no explanation was provided about specific circumstances such as for example divorcees with an income from alimony or students with scholarships, and other similar non-salaried prospective renters.After November 27th when it was announced that Dubai won the rights to host World Expo 2020,

Dubai builder Arabtec on Monday said that it has entered into a joint venture with South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction to pursue heavy infrastructure and construction projects in the Middle East and North Africa.Arabtec, which is expanding aggressively, launched a joint venture with another South Korean firm Samsung Engineering Co in September that would focus on large energy and power-related projects in the region.The new venture, called Arabtec-GS Infrastructure, will be headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the Dubai contractor said

Indians account for the largest number of Dubai property deals, followed by the British and Pakistanis, according to the Dubai Economic Outlook, Quarter 2 report for 2013, issued by the Secretariat General of the Dubai Economic Council (DEC). Many deals recorded as by British might also involve people of Indian origin holding British passports.The report indicates that the real estate sector in Dubai has witnessed a new wave of growth during the Q2 of 2013 in terms of both value

Fosun International Ltd., a Chinese conglomerate that invests in everything from steel to pharmaceuticals to Club Med, has agreed to buy the office tower at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza from JPMorgan Chase & Co. for a whopping $750 million. This isn’t an isolated incident.Zhang Xin, a billionaire property developer who grew rich building Beijing’s central business district, recently bought about 20 percent of the General Motors building for $680 million. And a Chinese state-owned group has agreed to buy a

Dubai’s Union Properties is planning to replicate the model of Shanzelize Street in Paris (Champs Elysées in French) in its MotorCity master development, Emirates 24/7 can reveal.“We have plans to build a similar project like the Champs Elysées Street in our MotorCity project. The street will have cafes, retail, residential with a waterfront view… we will be working on it in coming years,” said Ahmad Khalaf Obaid Bin Touq Al Marri, General Manager, Union Properties.The Champs-Élysées Street in Paris, which

A Dubai government-owned firm will refund $24.3 million to a property developer after a land deal turned sour, in a case at a special tribunal set up to settle claims against Dubai World that could help restore investor confidence in the emirate.Nakheel World, part of government-owned Dubai World and separate to Nakheel - builder of Dubai's palm islands - will repay the money to Saudi-owned Al Falak International.In 2011, Dubai World signed a deal with 80 creditors to restructure $24.9

Dubai government-owned property developer Nakheel said on Sunday it had sold town houses worth about 460 million dirhams ($125.24 million) in its Warsan Village project."As expected we witnessed a big response to the residential units

The United Arab Emirates' first real estate investment trust plans to sell shares in an initial public offer on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse before the end of this year, three people aware of the plan said.Emirates REIT, which was formed in 2010 and complies with Islamic investment principles, has income-generating assets worth 770 million dirhams ($210 million). REITs directly invest in properties and distribute profits as dividends.Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) owns 35.3 percent of the company, while state-owned conglomerate Dubai

Two developers based in the United Arab Emirates say they have signed a deal for a $4.5 billion residential and commercial project in Baghdad that would be one of the county's biggest non-oil investments.Plans calls for 30,000 housing units, five shopping centers and schools and stores to be built over a seven-year period in the Iraqi capital.Foreign investment has flowed into the relative stable Kurdish region of northern Iraq, but other areas such as Baghdad have lagged far behind because

Dubai could soon enforce ammendments to its real estate law intended to hasten procedures for the settlement of property disputes between landlords and tenants and allow for an appeal within three days, it has been reported.The committee for the settlement of rent disputes has presented a draft of the amendments to the government with the aim of slashing time needed to resolve rent rifts and stimulate the market in the region's business and trade hub."The committee has drafted a new