Emaar top brand for Gulf property buyers

The report, which looks at the real estate market in the Gulf region, notes that it has been a mixed year for property in the region, which has seen prices rise so rapidly, that many middle income people are now priced out.

The region has also been dogged by corruption this year, and seen regulation increase. The most overused exaggerations from developers to describe property include words such as 'luxury', 'dream', 'paradise' and 'reinvented'.

But among consumers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, some brands have seen their recognition grow. Emaar came top in almost every category in the report, and had twice as many people recognise it over its biggest rival Nakheel. Damac, which has undertaken a huge marketing and branding campaign over the past year, was the joint second best recognised brand, along with Nakheel.

Saudi and Qatari developers were far less recognised, not surprising as they largely operate within their home countries where the housing boom is not as well recognised regionally.

Among the 250 people questioned, who were all recent or prospective home buyers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, 70% said Emaar was their developer of choice, followed by Damac and Nakheel, on 26% and 25% respectively.

Asked who they most wanted to buy a home from, 55% again named Emaar, followed by Damac and Nakheel, on 19% and 18% respectively. Both Emaar and Nakheel were evenly matched in consumers' eyes for building desirable locations and providing good value for money.

Despite upsetting a number of investors earlier in the year when it announced that it was abandoning its Palm Springs development on Palm Jebel Ali, a decision it later had to rescind, and having a reputation for late delivery, Damac scored highly for trustworthiness and having responsive customer service.

Rina Plapler, senior executive director of FutureBrand, which produced the Gulf Real Estate report, said: 'Damac scored significantly high last year as well and because they are omnipresent their awareness seems quite high.

'The bigger story is that Emaar remains number one with what seems like an insurmountable percentage. I was surprised that Nakheel didn't score higher. They've promoted themselves more and launched a number of developments this year.'

Asked what type of villa they would like to live in, not surprisingly 82% said one that was on an island beach resort, although 79% said an ecological park and 72% a golf community.

Dubai has of course built its reputation on waterfront and golf properties, but Abu Dhabi is also now following suit. For apartments, most people again wanted to overlook water (84%), but a city centre high rise was also popular (75%).

The key drivers in consumers' minds when buying a property are high quality construction, luxurious homes, that the company is trustworthy, has responsive customer service and provides good value for money.

Plapler said the market is still struggling with these desires. 'Four of the top five are related to reliability.' There is still opportunity, she said, to get these 'basics' right and companies are 'not overall'.

'It's easy to promise and hard to perform in the market. I'm surprised that more brands are not being more concerted in their efforts to communicate what that brand is really like, rather than producing computer graphics that make you think that you are living on the Riviera.'

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