Canal draws Dubai’s affordable developer
Nshama was the first to launch sub-Dh1m town houses in the city
One Dubai developer is ready to look beyond the “town square” while keeping its projects affordable.
Nshama, which in 2015 became the first developer to launch town houses under Dh1 million, is all set to launch two new projects — a tower of about 50 storeys along the Dubai Water Canal, and a mid to upscale residential community that will take seven years to build. Its location was not revealed.
“If you have a good product and at the right price, you can still sell in Dubai whatever the conditions be,” said Fred Durie, CEO of Nshama, which is currently working on the Town Square community off Al Qudra Road.
“For the Town Square, we had a sales round in March — and had the best single-day sales ever. We had a lot of Emiratis buying property for the first time, whether to live or rent is not the point. New buyers are coming into the market. It’s not the case that nothing’s selling right now.
“We made our mark by launching a masterplanned community — there’s a slightly different mindset to building a 40- or 50-storey building.”
The land for the two projects was acquired early this year. The developer does not see any need to raise new funds, saying existing financing facilities are sufficient.
On whether the new projects will be more upscale, the CEO said: “I don’t see us changing our profile of being an affordable developer.”
Town Square, which covers 750 acres, has its first residents in place. Just over 300 units were handed over last year and another 730 homes are going through the process.
Of the 7,000 plus units put up for sale, more than 80 per cent have found buyers. “Eventually, there will be 23,000 units and we have always maintained that Town Square will be a 10-year project,” said Durie. “We will hand over 9,500 units by 2020.”
The initial launch price was around Dh750 a square foot for town houses and Dh900 plus for the apartments.
A Spinneys supermarket is opening, and talks have been wrapped up for two schools.
“On the retail side, there will be 500 street-side shops totalling 2.5 million square feet of retail,” Durie said. “We will have clinics but not full-scale hospitals. Discussions are on with some operators.”