Jumeirah Golf Estates (JGE) has awarded a contract to build 728 mid-market homes to Dubai’s Sumer Contracting Company as part of its strategy to build more “affordable” properties at its DP World Tour Championship golf course development.
The developer, which has been owned by the Dubai government since the global financial crisis, announced that Sumer would build 674 apartments and 54 town houses at its proposed Alandalus neighbourhood.
JGE said that apartments at the new development would start from Dh597,000 – just a fraction of the price fetched by the large luxury villas that huddle around the 1,100 hectare golfing complex.
It said that construction of the new development, which was first marketed in May 2015, was due to start this month and completion was scheduled for 2018. It did not say how many of the homes it had sold over the past year.
JGE is the latest of a number of Dubai developers to target “affordable” housing projects in the hope of attracting buyers. Developers building apartments costing less than Dh1 million include Danube and Nshama.
According to property broker JLL, the middle income housing market in Dubai for properties priced at about Dh790,000 is going largely untapped, while most developers in Dubai have historically catered towards the top end of the market.
“The appointment of Sumer Contracting Company is a major milestone in the construction of Alandalus and a pivotal development in Jumeirah Golf Estates’ growth story,” said Yousuf Kazim, the chief executive of Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“Having previously constructed a range of luxury projects, Sumer Contracting Company was a natural choice for this role, as we create luxury living choices with affordable prices for a captive audience of buyers.”
JGE has completed two of the planned four golf courses at the megaproject and started handing over the first of a planned 1,050 villas at Jumeirah Golf Estates in 2013.
The Dubai developer Nakheel, which unveiled the project in 2005, had originally promised to complete all four courses by the first quarter of 2007.
After two years of falling prices, property brokers in Dubai are divided over whether the Dubai housing market has yet reached its bottom.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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