Dubai building boom in shadow of Burj Khalifa amid 'overwhelming' demand

Cranes are set to start sprouting up in the shadows of Burj Khalifa as Damac, Emaar and other developers rush ahead with a spate of property marketing launches.
Yesterday Emaar announced it would start online registration for the 120 flats in its 20-storey Burj Vista II tower on Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, close to the world's tallest tower.
The previous day Damac announced the sales launch of 220 apartments in its nearby 22-storey Bay's Edge tower.
The two schemes are just the latest in a series of property launches in the area as the developers hope to capitalise on rocketing property prices and a view of the world's tallest tower.
An analysis of sales launches by The National shows that the two developers have brought at least 3,829 flats and serviced apartments to the market in the area over the past 12 months.
These include 520 apartments in Emaar's 65-storey Burj Vista I scheme that went on sale in April, and Damac's high-profile launch of 1,400 flats and 200 serviced residences at Damac Towers by Paramount in March.
"We have seen overwhelming interest in luxury serviced living in the Burj area of Dubai and that is why we are bringing Bay's Edge to the market now," said Ziad El Chaar, the managing director of Damac.
According to property broker Asteco, apartment sales prices in Downtown rose 8 per cent over the first three months of the year and 27 per cent over the year to about Dh15,000 per square metre.
"Dubai's market is witnessing unprecedented interest from both residents and visitors looking to purchase first and second homes in the emirate," said Ahmad Al Matrooshi, the managing director of Emaar.
"Building on the robust performance that our properties have recorded this year, we are further strengthening our portfolio of world-class residences."
But property brokers were quick to point out that although construction is under way on many of these schemes such as Damac Towers by Paramount and the 295-apartment Distinction tower, work has yet to start on other key projects.
"As far as we can see Emaar has yet to start work on many of its recently announced projects.
"We understand that it plans to start work in the next month or so on the 542 serviced apartments in The Address The BLVD scheme, which it launched last September so there is definitely quite a long lag time there," said Mario Volpi, the sales and leasing manager at Cluttons' Dubai office.
"Damac, on the other hand, seems to be well under way with its projects in the area."
"The spate of new project launches reflects the success of the Downtown area and the importance of being attached to more central locations," said Craig Plumb, the head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle's Dubai office.
"We are already starting to see schemes in areas which could really be classified as being in Business Bay being described as Downtown and we expect to see that trend continuing."
 
lbarnard@thenational.ae