Sobha Realty plans to construct $4bn mega-project in Dubai starting next year
Dubai developer Sobha Realty plans to build a new $4 billion mixed-use project in the emirate as it taps into the ongoing recovery that is under way in the UAE’s property market.
The project, spanning an area of 11 million square feet, will come up next to its current project Sobha Hartland in the MBR City, PNC Menon, founder and chairman of Sobha Realty, told The National at the Cityscape Global in Dubai.
“We are planning to have a large project close to Sobha Hartland and will be launching it some time in July next year,” Mr Menon said. “This is a big project and may take about six to eight years to complete.”
Sobha Hartland is an 8 million sq ft project and was first announced in 2014. The master development is being built in phases and is expected to be complete by 2025.
The new project, named Hartland Sanctuary, will be financed through a mix of debt and equity, Mr Menon said. The company will also consider tapping bond markets to raise money to fund the project.
The launch comes as the UAE’s property market continues to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic on the back of government initiatives and the accelerated vaccination programme.
“We didn’t expect this [the market recovery],” Mr Menon said. “There was also pent-up demand because for two years it was slow and the government initiatives really helped the market to improve.”
The UAE government introduced new initiatives to support the economy in the past year including visas for expatriate retirees, remote workers and the expansion of the 10year golden visa programme to encourage foreign professionals to settle in the UAE.
The country also overhauled its commercial companies’ law last year to attract more foreign capital and annulled the requirement for onshore companies to have an Emirati shareholder.
Expo 2020 and the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, which aim to make the city the world’s best to live in, are also expected to further boost the property market.
“Apart from the market [improvement], Dubai has become one of the top 10 cities to live in,” he said. “People who are reasonably well to do, want to live here.”
Sobha is aiming for more than $1bn in sales next year while the company is aiming to net sales worth $1bn by the end of 2021, according to Jyotsna Hegde, president of Sobha Realty.
“The bulk of our sales will come from customers in the GCC, India, China, Africa and Russia. A lot of customers from the US, Canada, Germany and France are also keen to buy the property. We are very positive about next year,” she said.
Residential transactions in Dubai hit an eight-year high in the first half of 2021 as demand for bigger homes increased amid the continued recovery of the market.
Total transactions in the six months to the end of June surged 69.2 per cent compared with the same period in 2020, according to CBRE Research.
Sobha Realty is also exploring new opportunities in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the UK.
“We have plans to start a new residential project in the UK in 2024. Saudi Arabia is also a potential market for us to expand,” Ms Hegde said, without divulging further details.
Residential transactions in Dubai hit an eightyear high in the first half of 2021 as demand for bigger homes increased