Shared solution

zoom

The regional shared ownership market is well positioned to thrive as the economic downturn leads to new opportunities for proactive real estate developers, says Group RCI Middle East managing director Jeff Tisdall.

In Dubai, is there a legal framework for shared ownership developments?

The Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) is in the advanced stages of preparing the legal framework for shared ownership in Dubai. Draft legislation has been circulated and is awaiting final approval.

The legal framework is a sign of a maturing market and is important for developers and consumers. It serves to make industry best practices standard, provides consumers with peace of mind and transparency, and assures new entrants to the industry of a level playing field.

In our experience globally, the successful collaboration of industry leaders and government to create a strong legal framework for shared ownership has proven to be an important catalyst for growth.

Are there similar frameworks in other GCC countries?

Saudi Arabia introduced a legal framework for shared ownership in 2007.  Like the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia offers developers and hospitality companies significant growth opportunities.

How has the Dubai timeshare market grown over the past year?

The development boom in Dubai of the last five years has created one of the most compelling shared ownership opportunities in the world. Exciting mixed-use developments like The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence are now online. The combination of direct beach access, a variety of hotels and a massive retail and restaurant promenade has created a tremendous marketing platform to support success in shared ownership. This opportunity led property management company, Salwan (part of Dubai Properties and Dubai World), to confirm plans for a points-based vacation club. The product is complete and sales are expected to commence later this year.

Similarly, IFA Hotels and Resorts is taking advantage of its role as a leading residential developer on The Palm, Jumeirah by launching its latest shared ownership offering, the IFA Vacation Club. In addition to a collection of luxury resort homes on The Palm, owners will enjoy access to properties in Portugal, South Africa and Thailand.

The cooling of the Dubai property market and the approaching completion of flagship tourist developments has ironically created significant opportunity and intensified interest in vacation ownership and private residence clubs. Today's market for leisure real estate is quickly moving from its investor orientation of recent years towards an end-user and leisure focus. By creating ownership interests that offer an annual allotment of personal usage to match consumer needs, shared ownership is the ultimate end-user product.

Shared ownership has a very important role to play in ushering in a new area of growth and development in Dubai, plus it makes the emirate a more accessible tourist destination. Moreover, it will provide developers with an important strategy for monetising unsold inventory and offer operators a means of building occupancies and year-round usage.

In 2008, RCI sister company Northcourse Leisure Real Estate Solutions predicted GCC nationals would be spending US $1.2 billion per year on shared ownership leisure real estate by 2020 and up to 20% of Dubai's inbound tourists could be staying in non-hotel accommodation as the market matures. Has anything changed to make you rethink recent NorthCourse market-sizing estimates?

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM