Nakheel Chairman: No Increase In Sales Prices In 2014

Dubai developer Nakheel has not hiked the sales prices of its projects and they remain on the same levels as last year, the company’s chairman Ali Rashid Lootah has confirmed.

“We are trying to balance the property market by not increasing our prices,” he told reporters.

Recent reports about Dubai’s property prices increasing by 30 to 40 per cent are not entirely accurate, he said, adding: “I don’t know where these numbers are coming from.”

Lootah also doesn’t expect prices in the emirate to reach the same levels as 2008, before the property crash in Dubai.

“Developers, lenders, the government – everybody is trying to stop speculation. The Land department is also keeping everybody updated with all the information and there is greater co-operation and co-ordination between all the parties,” he said.

There is also increasing supply coming into the market, which should balance out rising demand, added Lootah.

Nakheel, which announced a 27 per cent hike in 2013 net profit this week, plans to launch projects worth between Dhs6-8 billion in 2014. It will focus more on retail and hospitality developments, along with high-end residential projects, said Lootah.

He also confirmed that the new projects will come up in areas where the developer already has infrastructure in place to avoid additional spending.

Nakheel plans to open nine hotels by 2016, including five in Deira. More projects will be announced, said Lootah.

Nakheel’s new development pipeline in 2013 included almost 3,500 new units at an estimated sales value of Dhs10 billion in various communities, approximately 3.6 million square feet of net leasable area retail space at an estimated investment of Dhs6 billion and more than 1,200 rooms in the hospitality sector at an estimated investment of Dhs1.5 billion.

The developer has handed over around 7,600 units between the start of its restructure and the end of December 2013, including around 3,150 units last year.