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DUBAI / Emirates Business
The value of annual land sales in Dubai has risen by AED30 billion over the last five years, one of the emirate’s biggest real estate brokerages revealed, identifying Business Bay as a key area for further growth. Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties, said that as of November 9, land sales for this year had reached AED68 billion compared to AED38
billion for the whole of 2012.
Underlining a growing land-for-development shift by investors, Al Msaddi said the company has just sold a AED150 million plot in Business Bay to a developer new to the Dubai market. They are now working together to develop a residential tower on the 500,000 sq ft plot in a deal which will ultimately be worth more than AED700 million.
“Since 2012, particularly in the Business Bay area, we’ve witnessed a definite upward trend for both the value of land transactions and the size of plots being bought,†said Al Msaddi. “Over the past five years, with overall land sales in Dubai rising annually from AED38 billion to AED68 billion, Business Bay has seen an increase from AED482 million to AED3.3 billion. At the same time, the total area of land sold has grown from 731,000 sq ft to 2.5 million sq ft.â€
“Business Bay has witnessed enormous improvements recently and the opening of the new canal extension has freed up the area for a new range of developments,†Al Msaddi added.