Golf courses boost luxury real estate

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. It is made up of 350 villas and 800 apartments. 'The reason we choose to build apartments is to attract young investors who choose to have the lock and leave type of life style and need smaller properties than a villa.'

Construction on the final phase - the wind course - starts early next year. 'So far we have a plan for the number of properties on the course but we are still tweaking it,' said Spencer

Under-golfed UAE

According the golf benchmark survey in 2007, which measures the performance of nearly 1,500 golf courses in 48 countries, the UAE currently has 10 grass courses with a total of 700 golf players across the country. 'The UAE is still under-golfed and we need to see more golf courses in Dubai as golf is gaining popularity,' said Spencer.

Kelliher said that the ideal situation for a golfer is to have five different courses all within the hour to travel to from 'We call this the golden hour and I think there is still plenty of room for more golf courses to be developed,' he said.

Perhaps the most significant course currently being developed is the Tiger Woods Dubai, being done by Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding. The course is designed by golf super star Tiger Woods and runs across a 55 million square foot area in Dubailand, the region's largest tourism, leisure, entertainment and lifestyle destination.

According to Tatweer, the course will be open by September 2009 and will include 197 residences. Despite several attempts made by AME Info no one from Tatweer was available to comment, citing that the project is 'very exclusive' and is not being 'mass marketed'. 'In the case of Tiger Woods Dubai, property the prices are 100 per cent influenced by the Tiger Woods name,' said Kelliher.

But when it comes to buying or renting golf real estate both Spencer and Kelliher believe that the majority of people who choose to do so have no interest in the sport.

'About 30 per cent of the people living in golf communities are golfers while the remaining 70 per cent are just attracted by the scenery,' said Spencer. 'At the end of the day, golf does sell real estate,' added Kelliher.