Have a Bugatti, Dh35m to spare? Damac has a villa for you

In the world of real estate, distinguishing yourself as a top player that offers luxury living requires looking for partners to take your portfolio to rarefied air, the managing director of Damac Properties says.
"Pushing the boundaries of luxury sometimes requires that you associate yourself with the top brands of the world," Ziad El Chaar told Khaleej Times at Cityscape Global.
He said the real estate giant will have key announcements, one of which is the launch of its fixed partnership with French automobile brand Bugatti, in which both companies are collaborating to offer limited-edition luxury villas to owners of the high-performance car in Dubai.
"We will be offering these villas for close to Dh35 million... and the first hand-over will take place in about 36 months," he added.
The villas are so unique that would-be owners will be able to park their Bugatti car inside its living room. And just how limited are they?
"In the single digits," El Chaar says, referring to the fact that Bugatti vehicles are very limited in quantity as they can get. "We have many luxury offerings but we want to create limited-edition ones."
Two other main launches of Damac Properties at Cityscape Global include its apartments and hotel apartments at Akoya Oxygen overlooking its golf course, and Italian-inspired luxury apartments at the hotels district in Dubai's Business Bay area, the first phase of which will be those overlooking the Dubai Water Canal.
While Damac Properties has been setting its sights on the luxury segment, it is also focusing on the mid-range vertical, for which Damac Properties has already launched several projects. At Akoya Oxygen, for example, investors in the upper-mid-range segment can get a home for Dh550,000.
Property outlook
El Chaar is confident on the future Dubai's real estate sector on the back of a growing population, a strong economy, an increase in the number tourists, more people using Dubai and Abu Dhabi's airports and continuous investments in infrastructure from governments in all the emirates.
"Today, all the stock that is being offered on the market or has been offered to be delivered in the next three to four years is only 15 per cent of the current stock," El Chaar continued.
"Which means all the launches, and those under-construction will only increase the current stock of Dubai by 15 per cent."
"With all these combined, you will always have a healthy real estate market," he says.
"The future is very promising; you have all these in one of the most secure cities in the world, then people will come over."
Referring to recent report issued by Dubai Land Department, he said Dh53 billion real estate transactions were recorded in first half and major part of it belongs to non-Arab investors, indicating that this market is good for investment.
El Chaar cited a growing population and healthy economic expansion, including a rising number of tourists and modern infrastructure, in addition to a stable exchange rate and political stability compared with a wider region in turmoil.
Chinese investors
El Chaar also talked about Damac Properties' recent sojourn into China, which was part of the company's collaboration with B.A. & 5i5j Group. For some months now, both firms have conducted events in Beijing and Shanghai - and the results are inspiring.
"The interest [from Chinese investors] is very high," he said. "It was beyond our expectations; we received 470 potential investors, who showed up to listen on the opportunities they can have in Dubai, as well as with Damac Properties."
However, El Chaar says there is also a need to focus on educating the Chinese on the Dubai market and its dynamics. Case in point: of the 470 that met with Damac, he says that "only 20 have been to Dubai".
"We believe that we can develop the Chinese market; it can contribute at least a 10 to 15 per cent increase in our portfolio in 12 months," he added.
- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com