Identity Dezember 2015

The Middle East’s architecture, design, interiors + property magazine

identity

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Created to celebrate: spreading the holiday spirit Dining etiquette: spaces for entertaining and more Simply the very best: designs that beat all the rest Design highlights: modern spaces top trends + inspiration

ISSUE 147 Year thirteen december 2015 A MOTIVATE PUBLICATION

DHS 20.00 RO 2.00 BD 2.00 QR 20.00 SR 20.00 KD 1.50

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Isle be there Antennae

Interiors, villa at Cape Yamu private estate. Phuket, Thailand

DECEMber 2015

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Isle be there Fancy the island life? More island homes are coming onto the market for beachcombers.

TEXT: Richard Warren

Let’s debunk some island myths. First, like all other types of land, islands are a finite resource. That’s the conventional wisdom. Wrong. Every year new islands are formed. Volcanoes spurt out magma onto the ocean floor, which builds up over time to become the islands of tomorrow. Most recently, volcanic eruptions have created new islands off the coasts of Tonga, Japan and Russia. What’s more, islands are being created through land reclamation, which people in Dubai know plenty about, with hundreds of new islands planned at The World, the Nakheel mega-project lying four kilometres off the emirate’s coast.

Nakheel’s plan to develop The World archipelago of 300 man-made islands shaped to form continents was given a boost this year when the developer gave the go-ahead to engineers, Dutch Docklands, to construct 33 private islands as part of OQYANA World First, the Australasia section of the project.

The islands that Dutch Docklands will create in Dubai will be the first of its Amillarah Private Islands, with ten more of these branded island residences planned for the Maldives, followed by another 30 on a 75-hectare private lake in Miami.

The basic model for each Amillarah Private Island will be a 929-square metre island with a two- or three-storey villa, private beach, yacht berth and greenery. With a minimum of four bedrooms, and a home cinema and fitness area, the villas will have a total floor area of between 464 to 577 square metres, and buyers can have them customised to suit their individual needs. Sales prices start from around

Dhs37 million. A feature of the Dubai version of these islands is having the villa partly built inside a hill for greater privacy.

In addition to the Dutch company’s private islands, OQYANA World First – which is the flagship project for Kuwaiti property developer Oqyana – will have larger islands to accommodate apartment blocks, shops, restaurants and entertainment venues, too.

Of course, it’s not all good news for island lovers.

The effects of climate change counter the forces of island creation to some extent, with low-lying isles in places like the Pacific and Indian Oceans becoming submerged beneath the waves as sea levels rise. And it’s not only geography that affects supply. Politics do too. Where a government introduces or lifts restrictions on property ownership, so the supply of island homes will be affected.

Demand varies just like supply, and right now, with the traumas of the 2008 credit crunch receding into memory, the number of people wanting an island home is on the rise again. International property consultancy Knight Frank reports a 21 per cent rise in island home viewings on its website, year on year.

Barbados and Bali are among the islands generating strong interest, it reports.

Knight Frank website viewing figures for Mediterranean islands are on the up, too. According to Kate Everett-Allen, international residential researcher at Knight Frank, Ibiza and Mallorca in Spain’s Balearics archipelago are popular, because both islands boast good international schools, strong IT connectivity and

Water villa, Soneva Jani, Maldives

DECEMber 2015

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Clockwise: Amillarah Private Islands, Dubai version. Developer, Dutch Docklands; Isola d’Elba, Italy, 10 bedroom villa with private beach, Elba, Italy; One of six brand new villas for sale, Calaconta gated community, Ibiza

good flight connections. Properties for sale near Ibiza’s capital, Ibiza Town, include six villas at the Calaconta gated community, which Knight Frank is marketing at prices starting from Dhs12 million.

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, Sardinia attracts a more affluent cohort of homebuyers, appealing in particular to Britons, Scandinavians and Russians, reveals Everett-Allen. Qatari Holdings’ Dhs5 billion acquisition of Smeralda Holdings, which owns four hotels and Porto Cervo marina and Pevero Golf Club on the Costa Smeralda, underlines the continuing importance of Sardinia to luxury homebuyers, she considers.

While wealthy people want holiday homes on large islands like Sardinia, they are not the dominant buyers we might think when it comes to private islands, and here is another myth we need to debunk. The biggest groups of private island-buyers today are governments and charities, which want to protect them from development, says Farhad Vladi, owner of islands broker Vladi Private Islands.

According to Vladi, most wealthy individuals prefer to rent islands these days. “The younger generation, too, prefers to rent, to avoid the responsibilities that come along with island ownership,” he says, “With so many beautiful, fully-developed rental islands on the market, we’re certain this trend will continue to develop. The older generation still prefers to purchase, but often with a view to passing on the islands to the next generation.”

And you don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to buy a private island, anyway. That’s the third cliché we need to consign to the rubbish bin. Knight Frank says 65 per cent of islands currently on the market are valued below Dhs1.8 million (USD$500,000). Of course, these islands may not come with very much on them – maybe a modest house if you’re lucky, a few trees and a beach – and they may be located a long way from civilisation, but you get the idea: private island ownership is within reach of the middle-class buyer with a sense of adventure.

Many private island buyers are motivated by a desire to escape urban clutter and pollution for a simpler life closer to nature, says Vladi, and there are few places in

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Clockwise: Oil Nut Bay, British Virgin Islands, 88 villas for sale in private estate; Exterior, villa at Cape Yamu private estate, Phuket, Thailand; Taiaro Atoll, French Polynesia.

Island with house

the world where they could do that more completely than at Taiaro Atoll on the edge of French Polynesia, 562 kilometres from Tahiti. Visited by Charles Darwin in 1835 following his trip to the Galápagos Islands, the atoll completely encircles a saltwater lagoon, which has a floor of fine, white sand. With a small house and lots of coconut trees, the 600-hectare island is on sale through Vladi Private Islands for Dhs28.5 million.

A two-speed market has evolved for private islands since 2008, with prices falling for less developed, less well-located islands in politically troubled regions, but rising for some of the most sought-after idylls.

“Prices have fallen for [properties on] islands which are too far from the mainland, with no infrastructure or medical facilities nearby,” says Vladi. “The few islands which have everything, what we call ‘quality islands’, have a steady price.

In some cases, prices have even increased. The credit crunch has not affected values of quality islands. It definitely had an effect on secondary islands, which were bought for speculative purposes. These are islands mainly in Central America, South America and the Indian Ocean. Islands off the coastline of Western Europe are not affected.”

One of the largest groups of purchasers of private islands

are resort developers who build multiple holiday homes for sale. For example, the Soneva Fushi resort owns the island of Kunfunadhoo in the Maldives, where it is building villas for sale. The same resort operator is creating another Maldivian island resort, Soneva Jani, where 57 villas are being marketed at prices starting from Dhs11 million. Twenty-four of Soneva Jani’s villas will be built over the water and will only be reachable by boat, with the remainder built on the beach or inland. Abercrombie & Kent International Estates is the sales agency for villas at both resorts.

Stylish homes for sale on larger islands include a beachfront villa within the Cape Yamu private estate on Thailand’s famous holiday island, Phuket. This sevenbedroom villa has outdoor terracing and infinity pool, and is on the market through Hunter Sotheby’s International Realty for Dhs71 million. Half-way round the world in the Caribbean, 88 villas are being offered for sale at the Oil Nut Bay private estate on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, at prices starting from Dhs7 million, through Knight Frank. Residents will have access to the estate’s beach club and wellness centre, as well as that basic essential for any idyllic island existence, the sea.

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