Emaar launches luxury villa sell-off

Emaar Properties, builder of the world’s tallest tower, has launched the sale of 18 luxury villas in its Dubai-based Arabian Ranches development, the firm said Monday. Golf Homes, which Emaar declined to offer a starting price for, are each set in a plot of land 17,000-27,000 sq ft. The launch will bring further hope of stability to Dubai’s battered real estate market, which is slowly recovering after prices plunged more than 60 percent from their 2008-peaks. Emaar last month reported a 76 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit after retail and hospitality revenues soared. Net profit for the quarter ending December 31 reached AED716m (US$195m) up from AED274m the previous year. Shares in the company, which operates the Armani-branded hotels and Dubai Mall, are up 13 percent this year. State-backed Nakheel in February launched its first residential project since the property market crashed in 2008. The Dubai developer, which was bailed out by the government in 2009, said it would start selling townhouses on Palm Jumeirah this month. “Not everyone wants a villa or an apartment,” Nakheel chairman Ali Rashed Lootah told Bloomberg. “There’s demand for townhouses on the beach, but we’re being careful not to increase the density on the palm.” Real estate consultancy Cluttons in February said house prices in the emirate could fall further amid an oversupply of new properties. The firm warned the Dubai market was “still plagued by oversupply” but was seeing “selective stabilisation” with growing demand for homes in some parts of the city.