Dubai dwellers pay more for access to schools and shops

A Colliers report found communities with a mix of three or more different classes of income-generating properties attract higher rents than standard developments within other parts of the city.

The Colliers study also found that buyers and renters of properties were willing to pay a premium for branded communities built by certain developers. Above, villas at Emirates Hills in Dubai. Sarah DShow more

Community facilities such as schools, shops and other social infrastructure can increase prices of Dubai homes by up to 30 per cent when compared with standard residential property, according to a new Colliers report.

The study found communities with a mix of three or more different classes of income-generating properties – schools, offices, retail, hospitals or sports facilities – attract higher rents than standard developments within other parts of the city. Communities with walkable space, or those overlooking water or golf courses also attract higher values.

Ian Albert, the director for Colliers’ Middle East and North Africa region, said the “connectivity of uses” also helps, with better integrated communities benefiting the most.

“You want to have a connection between daytime and evening so you have a transition through the whole day,” said Mr Albert. “That’s really what a mixed use would be. For example, if you look at Downtown, you have offices down there, you have retail and you have residential. There really is a mix between the three. If you move into DIFC, it has some residential now – not as much, but it is coming. But really, it’s offices and at the end of the day it closes down and everyone goes home.”

The Colliers study found that communities with good schools tend to have an 11 to 15 per cent premium – although homes closest to schools can suffer if parking is a problem, Mr Albert said. Homes with a water view are typically 10 to 15 per cent more expensive, whereas those having a golf course view also attract a 15 per cent premium in Dubai.

The study also found that buyers and renters of properties were willing to pay a premium for branded communities built by certain developers. In Dubai, it estimates that the maximum premium available for good, mixed-use communities by a reputable branded developer was between 40 to 46 per cent, with 26 to 30 per cent of that premium attached to the brand. .

Faisal Durrani, the head of research at property consultancy Cluttons, said it had conducted its own study of the premium that homes with certain views attract, and in Downtown Dubai homes with a Burj Khalifa are generally 30 to 40 per cent more expensive than those without.

“I don’t actually know if people are consciously aware that they have to pay that premium when things are marketed that they have a full view of the Burj Khalifa,” he said.

It also found that homes in Arabian Ranches that overlooked the golf course were 15 to 20 per cent more expensive than those without.

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