This was the year when offplan launches in the UAE were supposed to take a breather. Leading master-developers in Dubai had already made their intentions clear by staying away from brand new launches through nearly all of 2020. This change didn’t have everything to do with the pandemic…
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But in Sharjah, the biggest players are no reading from the same script. At the beginning of the week, Arada – the emirate’s biggest privately owned developer – launched a Dh8 billion project “Masaar’… and immediately had the first release of homes there.
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Prices for the two-bedroom units are from Dh1,197,000, and the options extend to four- and five-bedroom ones. And yes, in keeping with the post-COVID-19 developer strategy, there will be lots of green around set in and around open spaces. And about 50,000 trees for that true ‘forest’ feel. Above, a 5 bedroom Sendian parks villa garden.
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The number of homes will be around 4,000, in the form of villas and townhouses. To be built in phases, the first residents are likely to move in during the first quarter of 2023.
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Can Sharjah absorb all these additional homes? Those in the industry say there is definite momentum backing up recent offplan launches in the emirate. Above, front view of Sendian parks villa.
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Much of it revolves on the pricing. Sharjah’s entry level pricing for an offplan property would be about 10-20 per cent less expensive compared to a similar unit in more established locations in Dubai.
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Plus, in Sharjah, with the freehold projects assigned to emerging locations, space is a luxury that developers can offer more of. This is the theme at all of the main freehold communities in the emirate – Aljada (24 million square feet), Al Zahia (10 million square feet), Masaar (19 million square foot), and Tilal City (25 million square feet). All get the spatial treatment. Above, artist impression of Tilal city.
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The Sharjah government – through its investment arm Shurooq - has its own plans and have struck up partnerships with the likes of Eagle Hills and Nakheel to create next-gen mixed-use destinations. This way, the emirate is also reimagining some of its historic neighbourhoods with a touch of the trendy.
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Are buyers getting the picture? Sure, overall property transactions were down in the first nine months, but there were enough signs that the various relief measures and stimulus incentives offered by the government led to demand making a return in the third quarter. This is what Arada will be hoping to sustain with the Masaar launch. Above, children play zone in Madar. Located in the heart of the Aljada megaproject in the Muwaileh district of Sharjah.
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A huge positive for the emirate’s property market is that property values haven’t seen a major erosion in the last 12 months. (That’s not to be confused with rental values, which indeed have dropped, by 10 per cent or over, in keeping with trends in the other emirates.)
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Will Sharjah see more offplan releases in the coming weeks? Developers say they are working on the details and pan to keep the pipeline flowing. The demand is there… it’s only a question of harnessing it. Masaar thus represents a start.
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