Dubai: Dubai property buyers responded as soon as real estate activity picked up last year by building bigger homes and adding more green space. No matter if it was a Dh10 million-plus house or a Dh1 million apartment, buyers wanted space and air.
Several of the projects were a direct response to the weeks of COVID-19-induced shutdown at home, which is when many residents in Dubai decided to do something about their living spaces once normal life resumed.
The Hartland development by Sobha Realty was more than ready for it. As the first signs of villas and townhouses being in high demand started to show up on the transaction radar, the sprawling upscale community near Dubai’s racetrack Meydan was one of the first to benefit from this trend.
This 8 million-square-foot development, located next to Downtown Dubai and the Burj Khalifa, has villas and townhouses starting at mid-Dh5 million, while apartments in the low-rise building clusters start at Dh876,000. (Sobha Realty was launched in 2012 to manage the developer’s interests in the Gulf region and beyond.)
There is clear evidence to support this
Taking a look at Sobha Realty’s first six months of 2021 sales, its Dubai operations had sales of over Dh2 billion. A Dh2 billion sale represents a significant increase after a COVID-19-triggered disruption which followed a four-year buying dip. The Hartland has a very diverse offer mix and has been a big contributor to Sobha’s success.
There are still phases to be completed, and the buying activity has been particularly heavy at the top end of the community’s villa category. (The Dh2 billion mark represents 80 percent of what Sobha Realty projected for full-year sales for 2021.)
“The performance of the company further strengthens the bullish demand and immense growth potential in the UAE’s real estate sector, amidst the run-up to Expo 2020 later this year,” said Jyotsna Hegde, President of Sobha Realty, in a statement.
“Overall, we are witnessing stronger demand in the past few months. The Dubai Land Department has also reported an impressive surge in transactions, which reflects the pent-up demand for property in the emirate.”
Plots and off-plan
Additionally, Sobha continues to launch plots in the ‘Tranquility’ cluster, while its inventory continues to increase on one side. Investors will be able to build their dream villas on these sites, continuing a strategy that Sobha has used successfully at Hartland since it launched in 2013.
According to a senior official at a Dubai brokerage firm that has tracked the Hartland closely, “Plot sales have performed consistently well, even though the relatively quiet years of 2017-20. Along with Dubai Hills Estate in MBR City, Sobha Hartland has been the best performing spot in the city since the start of the year.
“They had the villas, the townhouses, and the entry-level villas, many of which were ready for occupancy. That worked well with end-users.”
A tower too
The Hartland will also have a 35-story residential tower containing 592 units, to make the property portfolio as diverse as possible.
It will be interesting to see how far above forecasts sales were by the end of next year when Sobha announces its tally for 2021. The numbers will show not only the progress Sobha Realty has made from the recent past, but will also serve as evidence of Dubai’s real estate market.