Sharjah Master-Developer Arada Launches Its Offplan Community “Masaar”
Dubai: When it comes to launching its off-plan properties, Sharjah’s largest developer does not waste time. Even as investors get back into buying off-plan in Dubai, Arada has pushed the latest releases of homes in its Masaar community, a Dh8 billion all-villa community surrounded by acres of forested land.
In doing so, Arada sticks to its well-honed gameplan – in late January, when it launched Masaar as its third project, it became the first property launch in the UAE this year. In those days, fears of a delayed slump caused by the pandemic still swirled around the real estate market. The Masaar move by Alarad paid off – and it is time for another round in October. “We were contemplating a December release – but customers were knocking on the doors asking for more,” said Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, CEO. “When they do that, you can’t tell them they have to wait. The supply we had was not keeping up and we had to bring forward new releases.”“Demand is too strong to wait a month – and we have other projects that are going to launch at Cityscape. We don’t wait for events – we create our own events.” Sharjah’s Masaar locality is located in Al Juwaiza’a and is planned as a low-density, upscale community. Both the interior and exterior spaces, as well as the gardens, have been integrated into the landscape. The developer’s description of it as a ‘forested’ community is accurate – up to 50,000 trees will be planted in addition to 4,000 houses and villas. Construction will begin soon. Masaar’s two-bedroom units start at Dh1.27 million with a generous 1,884 square foot layout. The largest unit is the five-bedroom ‘forest’ signature villa, which costs Dh4.63 million and is 6,117 square feet. Indian and other Southeast Asian investors are beginning to come in for its off-plan releases, according to the CEO. In comparison with the first two projects – Nasma Residences and Aljada – the demographic mix is changing in the region. “It is so, especially from Indians and for the higher ticket five-bedroom villas at Masaar,” he added. “What was not expected was the bigger villas selling quicker, whereas we had planned on the townhouses having maximum demand.” The expansion of the project portfolio beyond Sharjah is getting closer to reality. Alkhoshaibi expects to land one in the first quarter of next year. “We are aggressively looking at creating a land bank in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” he said. “Finding plots of the right size at the right location and obviously right price points remain one of the biggest challenges. We have to be a bit more flexible on our designs to enter into these markets. Some of them could be smaller than what the market has come to expect from us in Sharjah.”
