REAL ESTATE

HIGH QUALITY

IN CONVERSATION WITH RIZWAN SAJAN, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF DANUBE GROUP

Can you tell us about the considerable growth that Danube Properties has had over the last few years in terms of employees, projects, revenue, company expansion? Danube Properties has grown from a single project property developer in 2014 to a 16-project developer with a portfolio value exceeding Dh5.3 billion and 8,002 residential units, of which 11 projects have been delivered to clients so far.

We launched Danube Properties in 2014 with Dreamz, a cluster of 171 townhouses, with a development value of Dh500 million. The project was sold out at launch.

We have so far delivered 4,556 units with a combined sales value of Dh3.63 billion – nearly two-thirds of the entire portfolio value.

In terms of project launch-to-delivery ratio, we are one of the top developers who have been consistently delivering promises of affordable luxury, year after year. Our customers trust us for keeping our promises.

Can you tell us about the latest projects completed by Danube Properties and what are the potential future projects in the pipeline? We have just announced the launch of Pearlz, a residential project offering 1,000 residential units and several retail and recreational facilities with a development value exceeding Dh300 million. It is our 16th project. Pearlz is the first real estate project to be launched in the UAE in 2022 – and the second project by Danube Properties to be launched within five months after launching the Dh475 million Skyz project in Arjan in October 2021.

All our projects come with community facilities – despite being in the affordable homes segment – and includes, retail arcade, games room, kids play area, state-of-the-art health club, outdoor gymnasium, infinity pool, lilly pool with water beds, kids pool, outdoor jacuzzi, viewing deck, paddle tennis, gazebo, outdoor seating area, water bodies, BBQ area, jacuzzi lounge, party hall with billiards room, balconies, terraces, gardens, parks, plazas and business centers in selected projects.

Skyz Tower, for example, will be developed at an 67,837.39 square feet plot of land at Arjan, close to the Miracle Garden with easy access to Mohammed Bin Zayed Highway. The tower overlooks Miracle Garden, Arabian Ranches and Motor city communities.

The concept was to create a new residential destination that celebrates Mediterranean living by maximizing usable outdoor space. The tower is designed to allow maximum views and light into the scheme and creates a series of ‘external gardens’ distributed around the building linked by an informal route with an outdoor pool and recreation area at various levels.

Skyz Tower provides holistic amenities from among others, a Sky Jogging Track – a first in the region – is an elevated jogging track for occupants of Skyz Tower, that will help the residents to maintain a healthy lifestyle – in addition to the health club, gymnasium, and swimming pool. This reflects Danube Properties’ focus on offering the best lifestyle to the homeowners, so that they can maintain a healthy life.

In several our projects, we have installed space-saving furniture, such as sofa-cum-bed and wall-mounted bed that could be folded and tucked to the wall to be used as a living room during the day. So, the living room becomes a bedroom at night – to help small families accommodate the near and dear ones when they visit.

All these projects come with unique features, as we always want to offer a greater value for our properties, so that the buyers can call it a home and tell others about these unique features. So, our projects come with different perks.

There is a question of oversupply of properties here in Dubai which is leading to lower prices reducing for the final user - how has this impacted Danube or has this worked in your favor? I am not sure about an oversupply in the real estate market. If yes, we wouldn’t have sold so many units. However, I know for a fact that there is a shortage of supply in the affordable segment – where we belong. That’s why our projects sold out fast.

How do you view the Dubai property market? It is a healthy and well-regulated market. Due to its attractiveness, the demand remains high. Investors have returned in big numbers following COVID-19 >>>

restrictions worldwide. So, the sector is doing well. We launched two projects in five months – due to strong investor demand.

What are some of the encouraging signs you see in the market that is giving Danube Properties confidence to start more projects?

The effective handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the UAE authorities helped global investors to return to the UAE as other countries were undergoing difficulties including repeated lockdowns. This helped the UAE economy return to normalcy. Due to travel restrictions and COVID-19 travel protocols, tourism traffic took time to resume in full. Expo 2020 attracted visitors. Lots of foreign travelers who could not travel, have started to visit the UAE due to the effective handling of the crisis.

However, I believe the economy will take some time to fully recover. Dubai’s economy relies on tourism, retail and trade. Once worldwide travel and tourism recovers, Dubai will get back to its feet – fully. Real estate sector recovered very well, even exceeding expectations – due to an influx of investors who find the UAE a safe haven to live, work and carry out business. Retail, hospitality, tourism and other sectors will take time to recover. That’s why we launched two projects back-to-back.

Businesses are recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, certain business organisations such as ours, we are on the growth trajectory. We overcame the crisis in 2020 itself and started to grow in 2021. This year we will grow.

Danube is known for its affordable rates. How does Danube balance affordable prices with quality? Homes do not have to be expensive. You can offer the best quality and maintain reasonably low prices by controlling the prices of building materials and by lowering profit margins.

As the biggest supplier of building materials, we can get the best prices of building materials.

We supply our contractors’ building materials. We control the prices. This price benefits are built into our sales value.

What do you envision for the future growth of Danube? We want to grow organically – taking one project at a time, sell it off, start construction and then launch the next project. We want to pace the project launch as per the market conditions and our ability. We do not want to bite more than we can chew. We are a steady player, even if it means to remain slow. But we do business ethically and steadily.

What are your views of the Saudi Arabia property market and are there any future projects in the pipeline for that market? Saudi Arabia is undergoing a tremendous economic transformation with lots of mega projects under various stages of planning and development. The country needs new regulations for developers like us to enter the market.

As a real estate development company, we are currently focused on Dubai only, due to a number of reasons, including a sound regulatory environment that promotes transparency and accountability. As a developer, we have to be accountable to property investors and buyers, meaning that we have to deliver properties on time, on price and on quality, otherwise we will be held accountable.

Not every market is so transparent. Besides, Dubai will continue to attract investment into real estate. We want to be busy here in Dubai before we look beyond.

If you had to give 3 or 5 reasons why potential buyers should buy with Danube, what would those reasons be? First and foremost, we are a credible developer who has consistently delivered promises – affordable luxury homes. We make luxury properties affordable – through tightly controlled quality, price control to restrict price escalation and timely delivery. We have delivered 11 out of 15 projects announced so far, or more than 4,500 homes to buyers – many of them are still paying for the homes in monthly installments. So, we are a deliveryfocused and quality-conscious developer.

The second factor that works for us is the industry leading 1 percent per month installment payment – that makes an affordable home more affordable. We championed it. A buyer, after making down payments of around 10-25%, pays 1% per month installments – to complete the 100 percent payment in about six years. But they get the delivery after paying about 50 percent of the payment.

So, if you are a buyer of an apartment valued, say Dh1 million, you get your keys after paying 50 percent or Dh500,000 and move into your freehold homes – while the balance remained unpaid – and start saving your rents. This helps families with fixed income to become homeowners without stressing themselves financially. This makes home acquisition less painful even for middleincome families.

The third factor is quality. We deliver the same quality amenities and facilities of a luxury home – that might be sold for Dh1.5 million – for about half the price. We ensure this by buying the building materials at a fixed price at launch of the project – so there aren’t any price escalations, and we supply the best building materials to our contractor at the lowest possible price.

So, the quality is ensured with tightly controlled pricing mechanisms. Additionally, we reduce our profit margin to a bare minimum level and pass on the benefits to the customers. This way, we gain trust of the customer. Now, people buy our properties as soon as we launch them. Brokers love our projects as it is easy for them to sell due to investor confidence and trust.

“AS A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, WE ARE CURRENTLY FOCUSED ON DUBAI ONLY, DUE TO A NUMBER OF REASONS, INCLUDING A SOUND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT THAT PROMOTES TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.”