Sharjah freehold sector can expect another upbeat year
Coming late into freehold means there is still lots of buyer interest to be tapped, Arada CEO says
Getting late into the freehold game is working to Sharjah’s advantage. Developers there had a rollicking time with off-plan sales last year and that momentum has continued through this year.
“From a real estate investor standpoint, Sharjah was a bit of a forgotten city — but the piece of legislation that allowed all nationalities to buy (on freehold/long-term leasehold) has brought it into the spotlight,” said Ahmad Al Khoshaibi, CEO at Arada, developer of the Dh24 billion Aljada mixed-use community.
“Because of that, I don’t see any slowing down in freehold sales happening this quarter or in the next year in Sharjah. In fact, more developers are likely to come in and offer freehold, and that would mark a significant lift in quality, urban planning standards, etc. So, those investors who were waiting to gauge how Sharjah real estate can perform will start coming in now.”
And the pricing, of course, will be a factor. For the priceconscious investor, Sharjah is emerging as a happening place in terms of the cost of entry and the future return on their investments.
At Aljada, Arada has sold about 1,450 apartments since September last year, with prices starting from Dh279,000 for a studio. In the next 12 months, the target is to add another 2,000 units to the sold list.
At Cityscape, it is releasing town houses priced from Dh1.2 million to Dh1.6 million.
It’s not just the properties alone that are going to attract investors to Aljada. The project’s Central Hub — which will occupy 1.9 million square feet of space — is being designed by the late Zaha Hadid’s firm.
The design has been done, with the exact centre of the 24 million square foot development set to feature a 100-metre tall observation deck with a mix of F&B options. Surrounding the deck will be musical fountains and “bubbles”, which are essentially dedicated areas given over to extreme sports and virtual reality zones.