Kuwait developer makes $100m MENA sales

Kuwaiti developer IFA Hotels & Resorts has made more than $100m in sales in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the first six months of the year despite pressures from the global downturn, its president has said.

“This is a unique achievement given the global downturn in the real estate sector,” Werner Burger, the firm’s president and COO said.

The company said prices of its Dubai property had risen during the last six months, running counter to general house prices in the emirate which have fallen by 50 percent since their peak in 2008.

In a statement released on Monday, the firm said the price of one of its two-bedroom apartments in the Golden Mile, Palm Jumeirah, has risen by 14 percent since the start of the year.

Investor confidence was also returning to Dubai’s real estate market, the developer said, citing the sale of a $7m penthouse in its Fairmont Palm Jumeirah resort.

“Branded properties always command a premium, as can be seen when comparing an average unit in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) and IFA HR’s Mövenpick Hotel & Residence Laguna Tower Dubai, which is also located in JLT,” the firm said.

IFA said that the average price for a unit in JLT cost $178 per sq ft, while one at its named development was selling at $438 per sq ft.

Construction work on all IFA’s ongoing projects is making “firm progress”, the company said.

Extra staff have been taken on to ensure that projects in Dubai, Lebanon, Thailand and South Africa will be handed over this year.

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