Viceroy Dubai records $653m off-plan sales

Dubai real estate firm SKAI Holdings has recorded sales worth AED2.4bn ($653m) since the launch of its AED3.67bn ($1bn) Viceroy Dubai Palm Jumeirah project in May, it was announced on Tuesday.

The firm, which partnered with Viceroy Hotels and Resorts and the regional unit of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), the world’s largest construction company, to develop the project said it had sold 470 hotel rooms and hotel apartments and 219 residential apartments and villas to date.

The Viceroy Dubai Palm Jumeirah is offering a total of 481 rooms and suites and 221 signature Viceroy Residences, meaning over 98 percent of the available units have been sold in the four months since sales begun.

CSCEC, which in June announced it had invested an undisclosed amount in the project, has started construction at the site on the Palm Jumeirah, with the hotel due to open in the last quarter of 2016.

Around 70 percent of the shoring excavation work has been completed, with the remainder expected to be finished this month, and the piling and foundation works is due to start this month.

“Investors have been extremely keen to purchase property in this exciting new project... Buyers have been particularly interested in purchasing the hotel rooms, which is a unique business model here in the UAE,” said Kabir Mulchandani, CEO of SKAI Holdings.

As part of the sales offering, buyers can buy hotel rooms, which SKAI estimate will offer and annual rate of return is estimated at 12 percent.

Mulchandani said the opportunity to buy a hotel room outright was proving popular with buyers.

“People want title deed, it is not fractional ownership and this is not a timeshare. You own the real estate, you own it and you lease it back to us,” he explained.

This is despite the latest HotStats survey of hotels in seven MENA cities by TRI Hospitality Consulting, reporting that hotels in and Dubai saw profitability and revenue decline during July.

The impact of summer coupled with restrictions on sales and consumption of food and liquor imposed during Ramadan had noticeable impact on hotel performance in the UAE.

Occupancy levels in Dubai fell to their lowest in two years, according to the survey. Hotels in Dubai also suffered during July, with a 16.8 percent reduction in RevPAR and a 12.5 percent drop in occupancy to 54.6 percent, despite ARR rising 2.2 percent to $196.87.