Luxury Dubai developer eyes Saudi for new project

LUXURY HOMES: A taste of the Al Barari lifestyle in Dubailand.

The developer behind a luxury villa project in Dubai where a home can set up back as much as $27m is in talks to build a similar development in Saudi Arabia, it was reported on Monday.

Al Barari, which is building 287 villas in Dubailand costing from AED28m to AED100m, is aiming to launch a residential venture in Jeddah, chairman Zaal Mohammed Zaal said.

“We are in negotiations with a group of developers in Saudi Arabia. We will invest our own money. Unless I have a majority shareholding in a project, I don’t do it,” he said in comments published by UAE daily The National.

He told the paper that despite steep drops in prices and a rash of buyers defaulting on their purchases, the Dubailand project had held up relatively well.

“We have zero debt and our buyers are staying with Al Barari. A lot of projects were shelved, but people still want something with quality,” he added.

About 20 percent of the villas remain unsold but a time when many developers are scaling back, Zaal said he wanted to start new projects.

Deutsche Bank estimated recently that Saudi Arabia will have a shortfall of 300,000 homes by the end of 2015.

Zaal said he was also looking the Western Region Municipality of Abu Dhabi for a “very private, exclusive resort” accessible only by an air strip.

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