Expo 2020 will boost UAE’s affordable luxury market

Sajjad Ahmad, Staff Reporter

The overall property market in the UAE is performing well and the affordable luxury segment in particular has witnessed strong growth in 2018.  Kalpesh Kinariwala, Founder and Chairman of Pantheon Group, said, “Expo 2020 is a fantastic opportunity for the affordable real estate space with more than 35 million people expected to visit the UAE and we believe the biggest beneficiary will definitely be the affordable luxury sector especially because there is going to be more appetite for rentals and leasing in the next two to three years.”  

Pantheon Real Estate Developments, part of Pantheon Group, entered Dubai’s real estate market with Pantheon Boulevard at the Jumeirah Village Circle in 2016. The project involved the completion of the Dh150 million Pantheon Boulevard at District 13, Jumeirah Village circle (JVC), comprising of 157 residential units and 5 retail outlets. The project had garnered huge attention and was completely sold out. Based on its success the company then launched a number of real estate projects across the UAE.  Currently the company’s second project, Pantheon Elysee is underway at District 13, Jumeirah village Circle and will comprise of 268 residential and commercial units. With a development value exceeding Dh180 million, it is expected to be delivered in October 2020 before the beginning of the World Expo 2020.

Speaking regarding the company’s plans for expansion Kinariwala said, that they are currently focusing more on JVC and the affordable properties within the UAE, having significant market shares. “We prefer JVC because of its central location. Its closeness to the new airport, the Expo 2020 site and the largest freezone of Jafza are attracting major investments in this part of Dubai. We are very confident about the growth prospect of JVC in the next few years and see more and more investment coming to this area,” he said. Kinariwala added, the luxury segment has challenges of its own but the affordable luxury market is growing and it is important to maintain the trust by delivering good quality products on time, that could subsequently help increase demand. Presently there is an appetite to develop more units and Pantheon Development does not see any challenges in terms of sale and execution of our projects. “Our investors and customers believe in our ability to deliver projects on time. We do one project at a time and that’s the reason behind our success,” he said.

These properties are targeted to customers with an expected income of Dhs15,000 to 25,000 and receive tremendous amount of interest from customers within the GCC and from Africa and China. With China showing a lot of potential in terms of liquidity in the UAE market, Pantheon Development is benefiting from the interest of Chinese investors who are confident about having their projects delivered on time.

“Reports suggest that the overall luxury segment is growing by 3 per cent but I see tremendous growth opportunities in the affordable luxury segment, and that’s where Pantheon is primarily focusing on. Here we see that we can easily grow by 8 per cent year each year, beside the affordable luxury market gives a much higher rental yield which drive the affordable luxury sector growth in the UAE, Kinariwala said.  

With the Expo 2020, Pantheon Development is very optimistic about the growth of affordable luxury space in the country. Property sales have witnessed an increase by 25% from the previous year and with increasing interest from investors, there is room for growth.“In the affordable luxury sector, especially in JVC, we do not see too much of oversupply issue in the eco-system we work in,” Kinariwala concluded.

Pantheon Group is US-based well-diversified global business conglomerate with more than Dhs1.2 billion ($325 million) annual turnover. The group has offices in the UAE, India Far East and Latin America. The group has interests in Mining, Oil and Gas, Asset Management, Investment Banking, Financial Services, Property Development and trading activities in various sectors. From its corporate headquarters in Dubai, UAE, Pantheon Group controls its global business operations spread in Asia, Middle East, Europe, Africa and the American continent.  The company’s diversified business portfolio has been streamlined into three broad business verticals with Mining and Oil and gas products distribution business worth Dh350 million, Asset Management, Investment Banking and Financial Services worth Dh500 million while Commercial and Residential Real Estate Development business worth Dh330 million. Pantheon Group’s strong financial capabilities and an insight in business activities enable them to represent their great assets and the strength of market share and volumes in the products they service, supports them to match our delivery and sales targets.