Abu Dhabi Property Market Targets Wealthy Investors, Not Speculators

Tim Elliott (0:00)

This is the Morning Drive. So, real estate now, who is buying high-end 9 million, 30 million Deere and Villas in Abu Dhabi? Ajay Menon is the CEO of Luxe Vista Real Estate. And as ever, Ajay, you're the man with the answers.

Ajay Menon (0:16)

Good morning, Tim.

Tim Elliott (0:17)

Whether you like it or not. Nice to see you, how are you?

Ajay Menon (0:19)

Very well, thank you. How are you?

Tim Elliott (0:20)

Jolly good, not bad, thank you. So, let's run through this. Essentially, I want to talk to you about real estate in Abu Dhabi this morning. And I suppose the difference that we're starting to see.

So we have three villa projects, three quite different propositions here, almost the same ticket size, nine million dirhams and upwards. The who's buying them is the question. First thing to do, though, which just took me very quickly through the projects, if you would.

Ajay Menon (0:49)

Oh, yeah. One is Huderiyat Golf Estates.

Tim Elliott (0:53)

Right, which is Modon.

Ajay Menon (0:54)

Which is Modon. And the other one is Vadim Gardens, also by Modon in that same ecosystem.

Tim Elliott (1:01)

Right.

Ajay Menon (1:02)

And the third one is by Aldar, which is Marzal Sadiyat.

Tim Elliott (1:05)

Okay.

Ajay Menon (1:06)

It seems like these people are competing with each other. One is starting from nine million, one is starting from 12 million, the other one is around eight and a half million. So.

Tim Elliott (1:15)

Which is, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but that seems a little bit, it's kind of at the higher end. It's very high end. Yeah, that's what I thought. Compared to what I'm used to seeing here in Dubai, for example. All right, then. So are all these projects backed by the government? They're all government developers?

Ajay Menon (1:32)

Government and government backed developers. Right.

Tim Elliott (1:34)

Okay.

So we are in very uncertain times. I think we've talked about this a few times. Tell me if I'm starting to get boring here.

Ajay Menon (1:42)

No, and this is the thing. I mean, this is the interesting part. All these are being launched now, where the regional conflict, geopolitical tension is still on-going.

Tim Elliott (1:53)

Yeah, yeah.

Ajay Menon (1:54)

And these people are launching like there is no tomorrow. And it doesn't really affect them.

And it is getting sold out, because it's extremely limited, scarce number of units that they're coming up with. And there's a queue for this.

Tim Elliott (2:07)

Well, I had a... I know somebody who went down for the launch of one of these events. Was it last week? Maybe it was the week before, end of the week before. I can't remember. It was very recently.

And he said there were... He kind of estimated the crowd at thousands of brokers. So, immediately that tells you that there was some interest. I think it was Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

Ajay Menon (2:28)

It was Emirates Palace, yes.

Tim Elliott (2:29)

That's right.

And it's almost as though Abu Dhabi is kind of a regional safe haven, kind of. But these are big launches.

Ajay Menon (2:42)

Big launches, big ticket sizes, big stake. But still, and people are buying. I mean, I think they seem to ignore the fact that there's something happening on the sidelines.

Tim Elliott (2:53)

But that's what's really interesting. I mean, you could look at this, looking from the outside of this, and you think, oh, that's amazing. It seems like a really positive step.

Ajay Menon (3:01)

It is. It is definitely positive for the region.

Tim Elliott (3:03)

Yeah. So, Abu Dhabi is now at the...

Am I right in thinking this? But it seems to be that everything is pointing towards Abu Dhabi being the upper end of the market.

Ajay Menon (3:14)

And that is a question that we need to ask. I mean, it is almost...

Tim Elliott (3:17)

Ultra prime.

Ajay Menon (3:19)

The thing is, like, why are they launching it? And why are they launching it at these kind of prices? And, you know, when you look at it, it's, you know, the huge proportion of the market in Dubai is still trading between that one to three million dollar mark. And it's almost like Abu Dhabi is saying that, you know, we don't care about that market.

We want to attract a different set of investors or different set of end users.

Tim Elliott (3:48)

It's almost as though the market has gone... It's like, it's Abu Dhabi now.

It's almost as like...

Ajay Menon (3:55)

Everybody, in fact, all the brokers who have been active in Dubai is now really, you know, going after Abu Dhabi. And they're trying to learn about Abu Dhabi. But of course, there are some Abu Dhabi brokers who have already been operating there, I mean, who've got the upper hand at the moment.