Hundreds camp at Emaar office for 2 days for Dubai villa launch

Emaar Properties is set to launch sales of 188 townhouses in Mira, the first residential community in Reem, on Saturday.

Published Saturday, April 13, 2013

By Shuchita Kapur

Reminiscent of the property heydays, more than 400 'investors' were already standing outside real estate developer Emaar Properties’ office in Downtown Dubai since Thursday afternoon, waiting for the developer to begin the sale of the first phase of its latest project ‘Mira’, the first residential community in Reem.

Eyewitnesses told Emirates 24|7 that a queue of about 400 people had already built up outside Emaar Sales Centre in Emaar Square, Downtown Dubai, by Thursday afternoon whereas the project went on sale only at 7am on Saturday.

Interestingly, the initial queue comprised mostly of construction workers and labourers. Industry experts maintain that this lot was there only to secure a 'token' from Emaar, and were handed a couple of hundred dirhams or so early morning on Saturday by real investors who'd hired them to block a slot at the head of the queue. The project was reportedly sold on a first-come-first serve basis by Emaar Properties.

About 500 people reportedly camped putside the Emaar office on Friday, with many more joining the overnight queue on Saturday early morning.

With just 188 townhouses that went on sale, those not already in the queue by Thursday may have lost the opportunity to buy the three-bedroom villas at prices starting at under Dh1 million.

Sale commences on Saturday April 13 at the Emaar Sales Centre in Emaar Square, Downtown Dubai, on a first-come, first-served basis. Emaar had requested potential customers to be on-site for registration at 7am.

The starting price-point of Dh988,888 for a three-bedroom apartment is perhaps the biggest magnet attracting investors, with similar properties in the nearby Arabian Ranches going for Dh2.5 million and above.

Although the first homes on the latest project are schedule to be delivered only by 2016, there is clearly no dearth of investors willing to snap up the limited number of available townhouses at these prices.

Even as many customers believe this price point is intended to attract more people for the launch, real estate agents Emirates 24|7 spoke with maintain there is no catch that investors should be wary about.

“There is no catch in the sale price. It is a test-run for Emaar. The sale of the initial 188 townhouse is just a start. The developer has plans to build thousands of villas in the new community. People are willing to buy villas in this project as the price is very low and capital gains in short and long run will be good,” Rushiraj Mehta, a real estate agent working with Legacy Real Estate, told this website.

“Due to the limited number of villas on sale, chances are slim for all to get a shot at the property. Thus, it cannot be construed as anything irregular on Emaar’s part. Demand is exceeding supply. Things will get clearer after the Saturday launch and will tell us the future of this community - Reem-Mira,” he said.

The community will feature a desert botanical park, camping sites, camel-riding trails, go-karting tracks, sand surfing facilities, dune buggy tracks, climbing walls and other sports and activity facilities.

The Reem development will be anchored by a huge central park and will also contain a waterpark, interactive fountains and a centre-piece water feature. It will also contain facilities for residents such as mosques, retail plaza, residents' club, restaurants, football pitches, cycling and jogging paths, cricket pitch, miniature golf course and an outside amphitheatre.

The development will be next to the Arabian Ranches extension at the crossroads of Al Qudra and Emirates Road.

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