Nakheel not raising property prices

Nakheel Chairman said on Sunday the company has not increased prices of its properties this year and has been selling at 2013 prices.

“We haven’t increased our sales prices. We are selling at the same price of 2013 and we are not adding to any increase,” Ali Rashid Lootah said.

He added Nakheel had increased the down payment terms to 50 per cent to allow investors to resell in the market.

“We have increased our down payment to 50 per cent… the aim to reduce speculators in the market as we are looking to get more end users.”

Earlier, investors were allowed to resell the properties after they made a 40 per cent down payment.

Net profit up

Nakheel reported a net profit of Dh2.57 billion for 2013, a 27 per cent rise over 2012, driven by unit handovers and investor uptake in newly launched projects.

Revenues jumped 20 per cent to Dh9.4 billion compared to Dh7.8 billion in 2012.

Earlier this month, the company said it plans to prepay Dh4 billion of its bank debt in September 2015 and will repay Dh2.35 billion in February with another Dh1.65 billion prepayment in third quarter 2014.

Lootah revealed that the company will be launching new projects worth Dh6 billion to Dh8 billion, the number likely to be more than 2013.

“It will be a mix of residential, retail and hospitality. We look at market demand and launch our products based on it. There is optimism in the market and investors have trust in us,” he added.
 

It’s new development pipeline, as of December 31, 2013, includes almost 3,500 new units estimated sales value of Dh10 billion across its various communities, nearly 3.6 million square feet of net leasable area in retail space valued at Dh6 billion and over 1200 rooms in the hospitality sector at an estimated investment of Dh1.5 billion.

Nakheel handed over 3,150 units last year, mostly in Palm Jumeirah, Al Furjan, International City, Jumeirah Village, Jumeirah Park and Jumeirah Heights.

Lootah said that they plan to hand over Palm Residence, its first residential project post completion of its restructuring, by middle of the year.

“We plan to complete Dragon Mart 2 by mid June and Palm View by end of the year,” he added.

Nine hotels planned

The company is also planning to build nine hotels by 2016 and does not rule out possibility of entering the serviced apartment sector. 

Five of them will be on the new Deira Island project, two in International City, one in Palm Jumeirah and one in Ibn Battuta Mall.

 

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