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Industry insight

AHMED GHOBARA

CALLISONRTKL

Home of Things and connectivity to shape the future of the Egyptian residential market

The brief for the home is changing. The need now is for productive living environments with the technological infrastructure to support residents. Consequently, a new era is driving hybrid lifestyles and hybrid working cities.

In Egypt, 17 smart cities are being developed that will be totally reliant on technology. In addition to the smart cities, Egypt is working on several projects to increase the broadband coverage to remote areas in the country. This supports Egypt’s Vision 2030 which emphases the importance of increasing innovation for the development of more connected buildings and cities, driving national development, economically and environmentally.

CRTKL has developed a number of projects in Egypt including the Children Cancer Centre in Cairo, the Mall of Egypt, Almaza City Centre, Cairo Festival City and its mall expansion.

The residential market and the demands being placed on the home have changed. The need now is for places that are fluid, flexible and authentic. Across the Middle East region and in Egypt, people are demanding a more dynamic lifestyle offering that caters to new hybrid working styles and provides greater community and cultural connection. The rise of smarter buildings is leading to the development of smarter cities that are more connected and more efficient than ever before.

Here are three new concepts are driving residential development:

THE HOME OF THINGS The ‘Home of Things’ (HoT) refers to the physical objects within the home that are embedded with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications networks. Innovative technology in a fully integrated HoT allows endless opportunities for improved home performance and convenience. Connected and controlled through a resident’s mobile device, the HoT could support amenities by tracking, measuring and improving personal energy usage and well-being. Biometric data gathered here could then be shared with in-house practitioners or resident nutritionists, counsellors, and other health professionals that could rotate through a new type of hyper-local medical office or telemedicine pods that are built into the offer.

In Egypt’s new Administrative capital on the outskirts of Cairo, residents will use smart cards and apps to unlock doors and make payments and use the internet on public WiFi. Through mobile apps and data, citizens will be able to manage all their life affairs from their smart phones.

THE BRANDED RESIDENCE – RESIDENTIAL MEETS HOSPITALITY MEETS HEALTHCARE New attitudes about health, wealth, and family are transforming an industry that formerly defined by medical care and home equity. To attract both the booming young and elderly populations, development is moving in a new direction towards brand residences and a lifestyle product that blends residential operations with a hospitality approach that is based on a professionally managed rental model. These models will focus on holistic health, community integration and mixeduse opportunities, incorporating wellness programs across education, exercise (both instructor and technology led), health, nutrition and intergenerational connection.

THE HYBRIDISED MODEL OR A ‘UNIVERSAL BUILDING’ There is a need for the new building typology to feature shared uses that come together to form a hub for a community of creatives, who blend living with working and socialising. The Universal Building allowing for flexible development strategies to take shape over time. With the ability to easily shift the program mix, this supports a city’s strategic goals in that it offers innovative housing and workplace options for an evolving and diverse community. It refers to a framework building with changeable systems, structure, and modules. This uniquely flexible platform can adapt program uses based on changing market needs. the column grid to carefully considered floor-to-floor heights, the building will easily shift between residential, office and social spaces.

Ahmed Ghobara is a senior associate at CallisonRTKL.

LEWIS ALLSOPP

ALLSOPP & ALLSOPP

Positioning Dubai for the future

The approval of the virtual assets law and the establishment of the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority is a step ahead for Dubai. The city continues to remain at the forefront of emerging technologies and aligns with how the world is developing.

By creating an authority and infrastructure to measure and facilitate the growth of virtual assets, the United Arab Emirates is keeping itself ahead of most of the world. The leadership of the country is always quick to react to the latest developments in business but always pays close attention to technology and innovation.

Dubai is forward-thinking and always has been but I think we saw this as clear as day, when the Dubai 2040 Urban Plan was announced at a time when the world was still heavily talking about the COVID-19 pandemic and their recovery strategies, with some still heavily in the throws of dealing with the virus.

The city’s leadership is always one step ahead and despite working through what the pandemic threw at them, they were able to execute the launch of the vision of the city in years to come. It gives residents and onlookers across the globe, immense confidence, therefore attracting investors, new companies, existing companies, professionals and families.

The virtual assets law and the establishment of the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority will have a positive impact on business start-ups, established businesses opening offices in Dubai, innovation, creation and so much more by giving consumers a chance to invest or purchase with cryptocurrencies.

The real estate industry in Dubai has seen investors buying properties with cryptocurrency already. However, we are still a bit away from this becoming the norm. It is still very early days of virtual assets being used to buy real estate here in Dubai, however, it is encouraging to see that Dubai has a regulatory framework in place, which I’m sure will advance as we see more virtual assets being used in the city.

As we move forward, I predict that we will see many aspects of the Dubai real estate industry becoming virtual. For example, title seeds. By digitalising these documents, the process of buying and selling properties could happen instantly rather than taking hours or days and could happen without both buyer and seller being present. This, I believe, is where Dubai is headed, and I see this happening in the not-so-distant future.

ALINA ADAMCO

METROPOLITAN PREMIUM PROPERTIES

Europeans drive Dubai’s secondary real estate market investment

It is no secret that Dubai’s real estate market is going through a boom. Consider this. According to data from the Dubai Land Department the city recorded transactions worth $408 million in a single day in

April. In March, hundreds of property deals completed in a single day pushed the amount of real estate transactions to nearly touch AED2 billion. The start of Ramadan which is generally a slow period has also not had an effect. Dubai witnessed 2,012 real estate transactions worth $1.44 billion in the first week of Ramadan.

The top end of the market has been the main driver for this phenomenal growth as transactions are up 30 per cent year-onyear, with 4,083 deals being recorded in

January 2022 alone. The average property prices (per square foot) also witnessed an increase of 35.1 per cent during the month.

The uncertainty in today's geopolitical climate is driving European investors, business owners and families to consider Dubai as a key business and lifestyle hub and real estate as a safe investment. Investors primarily from

Germany, UK, Italy and France are snapping up ready properties as soon as they are put on the market and in some cases even before they are listed. This rise in demand has resulted in the secondary market heating up with prices surging over 15% in the past two months.

There has been a spike in the number of transactions for villas and townhouses, with a notable interest and high demand for waterfront/ shoreline property. These two segments are very much in demand right now. Seafront properties are seen as secondary residences and investments whereas townhouses and villas are popular with Dubai residents who are looking for a forever home. The most sought-after locations include Port De La Mer, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, JBR and Emaar Beachfront.

Dubai had bounced back strongly from the pandemic and this level of sales was last seen in 2014. The government’s economic incentives, new residency visas, the EXPO 2020 and the world’s best vaccine roll-out programme have all resulted in attracting greater investor interest from around the world.

The city is seen as a safe haven and investors are looking to the city’s real estate as a safe investment. With more companies offering remote working opportunities, Europeans are relocating their families to Dubai while companies are shifting their base and their staff to the city. One client from Austria relocating his business to Dubai was looking for AED 200 million in residential property for his employees.

Properties in the mid-to luxury segment are most popular with demand outstripping supply. Investors are keen to buy super-premium properties whereas earlier they would initially pick up smaller properties or rent before they purchase their forever home. At Metropolitan Premium Properties we have seen our secondary market transactions increase three times in Q1 this year which has resulted in a 250% sales growth versus the same period last year. Our European client base has increased 20% in Q1 2022 compared to the same period last year.

We are seeing a significant increase from Western European markets for secondary properties however there is more demand than there is supply at the moment which means we are working with other agencies to find stock for our clients.

Dubai has clearly bounced back from the seven-year hiatus and all the data and trends indicate a record year for real estate as developers launch new projects and HNWI’s continue to invest in the city.

Alina Adamco, secondary Market Sales & Leasing director, Metropolitan Premium Properties.