DUBAI: With the new property ownership norms under which the Dubai government has allowed foreigners to own residential and commercial properties on a freehold basis, the real estate market in the city-state has seen a major shift and almost a quarter of them being snapped up by NRIs followed by British.
“While the average property ownership by NRIs in the Dubai real estate market is around 23% but for us they the number is close to 30%. Pre-Covid the ratio was only around 18. The Europeans, led by the British, are the second largest buyers here,” Danube Group founder and chairman Rizwan Sajan, who grew up in a Ghatkopar slum and entered Dubai fully broke in 1992 after his savings were lost in Kuwait following its invasion by Iraq, told TNIE here on Tuesday.
Sajan was announcing the launch of Shahrukhz by Danube, his group’s entry into commercial property and is named after the Hindi actor Shah Rukh Khan. The 1 million sqft or 488 units, 56 storey-tower is premium commercial property and his son Adil Saajn claimed that this is world first as nowhere else a real estate is named after a celebrity.
Senior Sajan said the tower was fully sold out on the launch day on December 9 and the sales value is worth Rs 5,000 crore or around 2.1 billion dirhams (one dirham is Rs 24 today) on the launch day. The project, coming in the central business district on the Sheikh Zayed Road, the arterial road of the city built on sand dunes, and offers over 35 amenities under one roof including a sky pool, a dedicated helipad for air taxis, valet services, and exclusive executive lounges. Its prime location also offers exceptional proximity to Dubai’s most iconic destinations, including the Burj Khalifa, the international airport, and the Gold Souk.
Sajan, who lunched the signature 1% monthly payment plan in Dubai when he entered the property market in 2014 (he began with a company dealing with building materials in 1993 and has become the largest in the segment not just in Dubai but in the entire Arab world) Danube continues to democratize property ownership in one of the world’s most aspirational cities.
The $3 billion Danube Properties is one of the fourth largest builder in Dubai after Emmar, Nakheel and Shobha Developers and the second largest NRI-owned company in Dubai after Shobha.
Since the launch in 2014, Danube has launched 41 projects, with 20 successfully delivered and the remainder in advanced stages of construction. Danube also set a new benchmark offering only fully furnished apartments.
When asked why he is not entering India, Sajan said he would think about it only when Dubai and the UAE begin to slow down and that for now there is no slowdown at all.
The new commercial tower coming up at an investment of around Rs 1,500 crore, will be completed by 2029, Adil said. Each unit is said to be starting at $460,000.
According to Adel Sajan, managing director of Danube Group, the celebrity-branded commercial tower was conceptualised after studying more than 100 prime office projects globally. Of the one million sqft planned, over 900,000 sqft will be office grade A space, a segment that is witnessing a supply crunch in Dubai.
This year, the company expects to notch property sales of Rs 22,000 crore.