Granty-Admin 10 years ago, I walked into a developer’s office on the 16th floor of Burlington towers in Business Bay. And that very day I decided, that when I buy my first property in the UAE, it will be from this developer only!
What I saw, learnt & experienced that day literally changed the way I looked at the real estate business in Dubai.
It was completely different from anything I had seen in the market till then, and I had already seen quite a lot. The very ethos of this company and vision they had for the future, made it very clear to me, that their projects were going to stand out in this market, even when it got crowded & competitive. And boy was I right!
I met 3 gentlemen that day, Mr. Robert Booth, Joseph Thomas & Elie Naman. They shared their vision of the future, and their plans to tap into a very vibrant and high potential market in Dubai. They had found niche, a gap in the Dubai’s real estate offering. There were either very high end, expensive & exclusive properties. Or at the other end of the spectrum, there were properties which left much to be desired.
Very low quality of materials used, very poor finishing and ultimately these projects were hard to resell or rent at premium prices. This gap presented a unique opportunity, but a very hard one to fill.
But these guys had found their “calling”. Give the market what it really wants, what every investor & end user desires, when it comes to a real estate investment.
– Superior quality of finish & building materials.
– Stunning design & user-friendly spaces .
– Strategic locations.
– Large spacious layouts with minimal wastage of space.
– Flexible payment terms.
– Timely delivery & handover of projects.
And ultimately all of this at a competitive price point, which leaves generous scope for capital appreciation.
These guys were able to pull this off with their very first project!!! And have done so with each subsequent project.
The project I’m speaking of is Belgravia 1, & the developer of course is Ellington Properties. I had only seen a show apartment at their sales office, but when I saw the finished building & the units on the inside I was flabbergasted. I immediately felt like moving into the building myself, as a tenant (I couldn’t not afford to buy an apartment back then), so I went and asked about rental listings for Belgravia 1, and what I found out literally shocked me, but it also taught me another valuable lesson that day. The rental prices were way higher than I had imagined. And I’m a real estate broker, so I know average rental & sales prices for most locations in Dubai. So, the asking prices in Belgravia 1 were completely out of tune from the rest of the location.
B1 is in Jumeirah Village Circle, which was back then and, in many ways, still is, a mid-segment, affordable, residential neighbourhood in Dubai. But prices which were being quoted to me were more like Dubai Marina, JBR & certain buildings in Downtown Dubai! Which you’ve gathered correctly are the high end, buzzing locations of Dubai, favoured mostly by high spending western expats & tourists.
The price that Ellington had charged their clients who bought in B1, weren’t astronomically higher than the rest of the JVC, but at completion, those same early investors, now landlords, were able to charge a high premium rental price leading to an investors dream, HIGH ROI!!!
At first, I thought these landlords were being greedy and the properties won’t fill up soon, but then again to my surprise, the building was pretty much over 90 % occupied within a month or so! This made me think about how this had happened.
I Regret sometimes is that they didn’t buy more — but that I can solve, in Ellington’s next launch. And remember what I started with today, my first impression & promise to myself when I visited Ellington the first time. Well, I’m a proud owner of Ellington properties projects and will be moving into it very soon. You probably think I’m biased and I surely am.
But I have my reasons, and I can back each of them up with hard, real & solid facts and data. So, let’s connect if you want to know about the next Ellington launch, which I think is going to be a game changer.
PS: the location will blow your mind!
