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Annual property prices to increase 25 per cent

Mohammed Nimer, CEO of MAG Group Property Development, announced this yesterday, citing Dubai's growing population and steady economic growth.

Yesterday MAG launched four office and residential buildings in Dubai worth Dh500 million, bringing to Dh3 billion the company's total portfolio targeting middle-income families. Its commercial space offerings have been attracting small- and medium-sized businesses.

Nimer said the company will continue to embrace transparency in business operations particularly through escrow accounts, stressing that MAG has been doing this since 2002, long before the Dubai government created Law 8.

"We have always operated in an environment of transparency.... And we hold ownership certificates for any land that we are developing," he said on the sidelines of Cityscape, a trade show for institutional investors in the real estate industry.

Law 8 calls for property developers to open a bank account for money generated from pre-selling and can access it only based on the progress of construction work done. It also stipulates that developers register with Real Estate Regulatory Agency, the newly formed industry watchdog, and produce a certificate of ownership of any land being developed.

MAG's latest projects include the Dh300-million Matex office building with 27 floors on Business Bay, the 23-floor MAG 226 residential building worth Dh115 million in Jumeirah Village, and the Dh100-milion MAG 228A and 228B at Phase 3 of International City. The last two buildings will both have nine floors.

Nimer said that MAG, a pioneer in providing transparency for investors, will finish the projects by 2009. He added that the company has long been reassuring buyers by putting in place guarantees, or what is now known as escrow accounts