The real estate agents of Dubai have mentioned that more than 70% of the people who own apartments in the renowned Burj Khalifa are unwilling to sell their property, but they are looking forward for a good increase in the lease rates to reap the maximum benefit.
According to the Portfolio Manager at Networth Real Estate, Rano Rahim, increase in rates is one among the major expectations of the Burj Khalifa owners.
According to her, "Further, almost 70 per cent of the people are not ready to sell the property as it has a brand value attached for them. They don't mind putting it up for rent in order to earn returns on their property. Right now, people are only enquiring and asking for our advice on rents and sales values. Since their investment is so huge we are trying to get them the maximum returns”.
Better Homes that has 24-plus clients in the same have revealed that majority of their clients are more interested in leasing out their property. According to the words of the Residential Sales Consultant of Better Homes, Adam Farani, “Many of our clients are retaining their apartments for lease instead of selling. There is a status element to owning such a unique property”. He has mentioned that the one-bedroom units cover about 1,000 square feet while a two-bedroom occupies approximately2,500 square feet.
"Currently one-bedroom apartment is selling for between Dh 10 million to Dh13 million," said Farani. "A two-bedroom apartment with an approximate size of around 2,500 square feet area is currently in the range of Dh 20 million and Dh 25m”, he added.
"There is more interest in rentals at the moment. Many of our clients have held onto these prestigious units for the last few years, so at this stage, they feel it's a good option to lease them out instead of selling," said Farani.
Rahim added: "One cannot push landlords to reduce prices so low. There can be only one tower like Burj Khalifa. It is not fair to the owners to think about original price and below original price."
According to Mohanad Alwadiya, the Managing Director of the Harbor Real Estate, "The greater majority of owners are not selling lower than the original price value of the Burj Khalifa units. Even people who bought from Emaar in later stages for very high prices prefer to hold on to their units instead of selling them at lower prices."
"We are expecting an increase in the prices of Burj Khalifa units as the hand-over of the tower begins. By that time, the rental market for Burj Khalifa will also start forming as well”, he added. He also mentioned that the market prices for the residential units there fall into the price range of Dh 3,200 per square foot & Dh 4,200 per square foot. The original price quoted by Emaar for this luxurious property was in the range of Dh 2,500 per square foot to Dh 3,600 per square foot.
The office spaces come at a cost of Dh 5,500 per square foot to Dh 7,500 per square foot, while the original price had been somewhere between Dh 2,500 per square foot and Dh 4,000 per square foot.
The offices and corporate suites that are present at levels 150 and 113 respectively are being sold at the rate of the range Dh 4,500 to Dh 5,000 per square foot, while these are being rented out at a minimum annual rate of Dh400 per square foot.
According to Alwadiya, since a major number of people will belong to the owner-occupier class, there will be a huge impact on the apartments available for rent. He also added that all those who had bought apartments from this extravagant Emaar construction have paid in cash.
"The CEOs will prefer to stay there since it is closer to the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). These CEOs are living in downtown and since these rents are economical they may want to shift over there”, says Rahim of Networth said. ( Ref. gowealthy )
Burj Khalifa Owners Not Keen On Selling Their Units
