Emaar Properties has begun selling new “lateral” apartments taking up either half or a whole floor of a new 77-storey tower at the Opera District in Downtown Dubai.
The Il Primo apartments have gone on sale at a marketing suite within the famous Harrods Department store in London, with the smallest units of around 4,979 sq ft being sold for £3.5 million (Dh17m) each.
The tower will have 119 apartments in total, and the biggest will be up to 10,842 sq ft in size, with a balcony terrace of 708 sq ft. The smaller, 4,979 sq ft properties will have 279 sq ft balconies.
The Il Primo Tower will also have a podium containing amenities including a gym, cigar lounge, a library, cinema and spa. Apartments will have full-height glazing offering views of the new Opera House, Burj Khalifa and Downtown Dubai.
Ahmad Al Matrooshi, the managing director of Emaar Properties, said: “Il Primo is situated in the centre of Dubai’s new cultural hub. The exceptional views of Dubai Opera, The Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa are spectacular. This, combined with the generous apartment sizes, will make Il Primo the most covetable address in Dubai.”
Emaar said that prices will average at around £500 per sq ft, compared with between £1,500-£3,000 per sq ft for prime central London property. It is selling the apartments from a 2,000 sq ft marketing suite on the second floor of Harrods, which has scale models of The Opera District, as well as its Dubai Hills Estate and Dubai Creek Harbour masterplanned communities. The suite will be open until mid-August.
The company has launched the properties in London targeting investors looking for a safe haven for investments in light of the turmoil in the UK caused by the Brexit vote.
Simon Barry, a director of new developments for Emaar’s sales agent, Harrods Estates, argued that Dubai could be a big winner out of the uncertainty over Brexit.
However, it does mean that Dubai-based apartments have become much more expensive for buyers whose assets are primarily held in sterling.
Moreover, prices in Downtown Dubai have continued to decline in recent months.
According to Asteco Property Consultants, apartment sale prices dropped by 4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2016, with existing apartments generally selling at between Dh1,800-Dh2,800 per sq ft.
Faisal Durrani, the head of research at Cluttons, said that he believed the London launch was aimed more at Gulf-based buyers and other, high-net worth international investors than those based in the UK. Cluttons’ recent Middle East Private Capital Survey found Dubai to be the top destination for GCC investors due to “the security of the investment, the returns available and the variety of assets”.
“I think the prime target is Gulf buyers,” he said. “Timing-wise, it’s probably quite good. It’s after Ramadan, during the Eid holidays and as we’re all familiar with, London is a hotspot for Gulf tourists during the summer.
“Given what’s happened to sterling over the last couple of weeks, there is a significant discount for those planning to holiday [in the UK], and I suspect that will drive in a higher number of business people than normal from the Gulf this summer.”
mfahy@thenational.ae
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Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
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Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
