Buyers rush to snap up ultra-luxury homes in Dubai’s Mercedes-branded skyscraper
▶ The 65-storey tower in Downtown Dubai is the German auto giant’s first branded property project
Half of the properties in Binghatti Properties’ latest branded residences project in Downtown Dubai – Mercedes-Benz Places – sold out a day after it was launched, signalling robust buyer demand on the back of the UAE’s vibrant property market, its chief executive has said.
Having announced the 65-storey residential project in early December, the Dubai developer hosted the launch of the project last Wednesday.
The response to the sales since it was announced less than two months ago has been “phenomenal”, Muhammad BinGhatti told The National.
He confirmed that 50 per cent of the project, which is expected to break ground this year, has already been sold.
Mercedes-Benz Places – the German auto giant’s first branded property project – will have 150 residences of two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom units and five penthouses that will have uninterrupted views of Burj Khalifa.
The southern facade of the building – the opposite side facing Burj Khalifa – features cladding that provides shading from the sun and provides electricity for up to 40 electric vehicles per day, Mr BinGhatti said.
“The idea is that it’s a single-leaf design. The front elevation is all units facing Downtown and the rear is this solid facade that features these photovoltaic systems,” he said.
The building’s elliptical exterior is influenced by the curvature of some of the latest Mercedes-Benz cars, including the Vision EQXX, the Vision One-Eleven and the Concept CLA Class, which was unveiled at the IAA Mobility 2023 show in Munich.
Mercedes-Benz Places, scheduled to be delivered by the fourth quarter of 2026, is Binghatti Properties’ third branded project in Dubai, after the launches of Bugatti Residences by Binghatti in Dubai’s Business Bay and Burj Binghatti Jacob & Co Residences.
Mr BinGhatti said sales in both projects are “doing very well” and they are about to launch the second phase in each development.
“With Jacob & Co, we’ve just hit a billion dirhams in sales. In Bugatti, we’ve just exceeded a billion dirhams in sales. On both of those, we’ve successfully sold out phase one and now we’re preparing to launch phase two.” Dubai’s luxury home market reached record levels in 2023, with sales of $10 million-plus homes nearly doubling to $7.6 billion and outstripping global rivals London and New York, according to property consultancy Knight Frank.
Twice as many $10 million-plus homes were sold in Dubai than in New York during the first nine months of the year – 323 in Dubai compared with 159 in New York, Knight Frank said.
The figures underline Dubai’s status as the “world’s most active $10 million-plus homes market”, according to Faisal Durrani, head of research for Mena at Knight Frank.
Branded residences offer the developer “a more international audience”, Mr BinGhatti said. “These brands have existed globally for more than a century. They have fan bases all around the world, so it opens up a new audience for us.”
Binghatti Properties recently acquired a plot of land in the Business Bay for Dh370 million ($100.7 million). Mr BinGhatti said the development on this land will be luxurious, but not necessarily branded.
“We’re always on the lookout for collaborations that we see beneficial for us as a developer and as a brand, but we’re very selective and very wary of who we’re collaborating with and who we’re participating with. If we don’t see an added value, it’s not something we’ll jump at,” he said.
“It has to be something that adds value to our portfolio. We’ve done automotive, we’ve done horology, so if there is anything on the horizon, it would be something from a different industry, if we are to consider it.”
Dubai’s property market, which has been on the rise since Covid-19, will see further growth but not at the same rate, according to Mr BinGhatti.
“What I foresee moving forward is we will see a continuous increase in prices,” he said.
“However, it won’t be as sharp as the year before but it will steadily continue to grow.
“I do expect something between a 10 [per cent] to 15 per cent increase over the next 12 to 18 months.”
The elliptical exterior is influenced by the curvature of some of the latest Mercedes-Benz car, including the Vision EQXX