Golf courses boost luxury real estate (page 1 of 2)

Having a big garden in your home might be considered an advantage, but having an 18- hole golf course as your back yard is a completely different story.

With the real estate market already booming in Dubai, renting or owning property overlooking a golf course adds an extra sizzle to those seeking distinct homes and have the budget for it.

'Who doesn't want the biggest garden in the world that you don't have to maintain?' said St John Kelliher, Director of Business Development for Dubai Golf, which is responsible for the Dubai Creek Golf & Emirates Golf Club projects.

These 18-hole courses have developments that consist of 92 luxury four-bedroom villas that are fully furnished and fully catered, at whopping cost between Dhs60,000 ($16,340) and Dhs70,000 a month, which is the price for six month's rent for an average two bedroom apartment in Dubai. 'We have a two-year waiting list on these villas,' said Kelliher.

He further told AME Info that their target market is mainly executives and upper management that arrive in Dubai seeking a unique living environment they can call home. 'Due to the high demand on the villas we are currently in the process of developing 100 villas that will be completed within a year.'

More demand for golf real estate

And with about 40,000 residential apartments in Dubai, many experts in the real estate sector in Dubai believe that market will continue to grow. 'The demand is still higher than the supply and in terms of price I think that this is the price of living in Dubai, as everything is still brand new,' he said.

For the time being, the Dubai Golf management prefers to rent the villas rather that placing them for sale. 'With such a high demand on the rentals, why should we sell the properties?' added Kelliher.

Jumeirah Golf Estates is taking the opposite approach, offering investors the chance to buy property in a number of prestigious residential golf communities surrounded by four courses inspired by the natural elements of Fire, Earth, Water and Wind.

The Fire and Earth courses are designed by Australian golf Greg 'Shark' Norman. They will be fully grassed by 31 August this year and opened in December for a highly limited preview play. The other two courses will open by the third quarter of 2009.

David Spencer, CEO of Leisurecorp, told AME Info that the Jumeirah Golf Estates project is divided into three phases. The first is the development of the Earth and Fire residences, which will include 946 villas that will be completed by the end of this year.

The bulk of the villas will be ready between the second and fourth quarter of 2009. 'We are going to have 13 gated communities; each will include between 20 nd 158 villas,' said Spencer.

They will cost between Dhs5m and Dhs40m, with the entry level being Dhs1,800 per square foot, rising to Dhs3,900. 'The villas are completely finished and have a kitchen...and so far we have seen a very high demand,' said Spencer.

Half of the demand has so far come from the GCC region and the UK, with 13 per cent from the sub-continent and the remainder from Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy and Russia. 'A really interesting and pleasing thing for our project and for Dubai is that a lot of international customers are buying villas with the intention of relocating to Dubai,' said Spencer.

The second phase of the project with the water course begin construction during the first quarter of this year.