This is not just another off-plan launch in Dubai: Danube's Olivz is the first of the year.
Aggressive Pricing
Dubai: Danube Properties is testing investor appetite for off-plan property with a Dh400 million project at Al Warsan First, near International City, backed by aggressive pricing:
| Home | Starting price |
|---|---|
| Studio | Dh290,000 |
| One-bedroom | Dh475,000 |
| Two-bedroom | Dh699,000 |
About 375 of the 741 apartments at Olivz go on sale from today, March 11, with completion scheduled for Q1 2022.
A Tough Market
This is Dubai's first formal off-plan launch of the year, with most developers steering clear of what remains a very difficult sellers' market. Emaar has been promoting The Valley, while other developers have made limited releases in places such as District 1 in Mohammed Bin Rashid City.
Many developers are also waiting for Dubai's Higher Committee on Real Estate to set out its views on tackling oversupply. But according to Atif Rahman, Director at Danube Properties, that does not mean new launches should stop. "That's not what the Committee has been set up for – and as a developer, it is not our intention to worry about if there is demand for offplan," he said. "Our only consideration is how to tap demand."
Any discussion of Dubai property soon turns to supply, with 40,000–50,000 new homes potentially completing this year, a pace that could continue for two to three years and keep prices under pressure.
Asked whether the tight market is reflected in Olivz's prices, Rahman said: "Look, construction costs have not come down – only property values have. No developer can risk lowering prices to an extent that the build quality suffers. Regardless of the market situation, we keep our prices to a certain range. The one thing that we do not engage in is over pricing." On a per-square-foot basis, prices work out at around Dh800.
Delivery Track Record
Danube has delivered more than 2,100 units across several projects, some of which have become popular rental hotspots, and Rahman hopes this record, along with Danube's time-tested 1 per cent payment plans, will win over buyers. Last year Danube launched two projects, Elz and Wavez, and delivered two, Starz and Resortz.
Market sources say a string of new launches is unlikely in the first half of the year. The novelty of extra-long post-handover payment plans is fading, and developers are focusing on completing projects and then pushing ready units.
