Emirates hot spots

So you want to own a property in the UAE. Where are the property hot-spots in the various Emirates, either by reputation, or because they currently offer great value but are likely to see spikes in values in the near future?

Billed as the eighth wonder of the world, the construction of the Palm Jumeirah is a long way behind its initial completion schedule of the end of this year, and the developer now claims completion will be by 2010. But around 1,000 families are living on the iconic development today which is now around 55 per cent completed.

Should you join 'Posh and Becks' in buying a villa on the Palm? It is arguable that the Palm has temporarily lost its cache and that with prices not much higher than those inland, this is the moment to snap up a piece of history. Certainly an incomparable seafront location is not to be ignored.

Check-out the shoreline apartments on the trunk of the Palm for some good deals on completed units at present. These are high-specification and very spacious apartments with a location that is unlikely to ever go out of fashion. And once the Palm is finally finished prices should soar, and certainly have the potential to do so at some point in the not too distant future.

Burj Dubai

This phenomenon has already been seen at the Burj Dubai and the surrounding Downtown Dubai district, where the announcement of the formal title of 'the world's tallest building' has driven prices of apartments in the Burj Dubai itself to dizzying heights. For the best value try the low-rise apartment blocks in the Old Town section of the project which has a combination of a central location, great facilities and a human scale.

If you are searching for a villa then the hot-spot continues to be the Emirates Living district, including The Hattans and Meadows larger villas and The Springs town houses; and the adjacent Lakes villas. Property vacancy rates in this area are probably the lowest in Dubai, but still the occasional never-used speculative unit comes up in need of some renovation.

With a location just minutes away from the Dubai Tecom free zone and the towers of the Dubai Marina and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the Emirates Living district is also close to the main beach and the huge Mall of the Emirates. In addition traffic problems have recently been eliminated by the opening of a massive new interchange.

JBR landmark

The handover of the 6,500 apartments of the Jumeirah Beach Residence at the beachfront of the Dubai Marina this year is a landmark event. Where else in the world can you buy an apartment in a high-rise tower on a world-class beach at these prices?

The market is presently a little oversupplied, as you might expect, but this is a unique water-front location with great facilities. As a future hot-spot the JBR is a banker, with the only question mark being whether to buy now or wait-and-see if prices fall further.

Abu Dhabi's construction boom is at a much earlier stage than Dubai's because the key legislation allowing foreign purchases of property was not made until relatively recently. Off-plan sales at both the huge Reem Island and Al Raha Beach projects have been strong, and it could be that these two schemes emerge as the Abu Dhabi counterparts to Downtown Dubai and the Dubai Marina respectively and the local hot-spots.

Other emirates?

Away from Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the only other hot-spot is probably Ras Al Khaimah, the first emirate to pass a freehold ownership law in November 2005. RAK certainly aspires to be a hot-spot in the UAE property scene, but is mainly a place for second-homes for local residents and foreigners, and really more of a quiet backwater.

At the risk of stating the obvious to real estate buyers, the UAE is no different to anywhere else in the criteria for deciding whether a district is an actual or future hot-spot.

It is a matter of 'location, location, location'. Do people in a hot city like Dubai want to be near the beach or business districts, or tens of kilometers out into the desert? Where are the best natural and man-made facilities to be found? Where is most convenient for transport infrastructure? Answer those questions and you will probably concur with the hot-spots suggested in this article.