Deyaar Development, a Dubai-listed property developer, plans to add a 70-storey high-rise to the Dubai skyline as it continues to expand its portfolio in the emirate. Construction on the Dh1 billion ($272.5 million) Regalia tower in Business Bay will start next month and Deyaar expects to deliver the premium residential project in 2024, it said in a <a href="https://feeds.dfm.ae/documents/2021/Jul/03/876acaa0-c4fa-4726-aa26-6472586b5b4e/DEYAAR_PR_E_03_07_2021.pdf" target="_blank">statement</a> on Tuesday to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded. It did not say how it plans to finance the project. Regalia will be Deyaar’s “flagship skyscraper that will set a new benchmark for high-end urban living in the heart of the city”, said chief executive Saeed Al Qatami. “We anticipate that the project will appeal to investors” as it offers smart city technology and seamless connectivity to Dubai’s major arteries such as Al Khalil and Sheikh Zayed Roads, he added. As the Middle East's commercial and tourism hub, Dubai is home to some of the most famous high-rise buildings in the world, including the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and the Burj Al Arab hotel that is built on a man-made island and stands at 321 metres – 14 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 60 metres shorter than the Empire State building. Some of the other tower blocks in the emirate include Marina 101, Princess Tower, 23 Marina, Elite Residence, The Address Boulevard, Almas Tower, JW Marriot Marquis and Emirates Towers, according <a href="https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/buildings">to data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat</a>. The property market in the UAE softened as a result of a three-year oil price slump that began in 2014 and the Covid-19 pandemic, which pushed the global economy into its worst recession since the 1930s. However, economic support measures and government initiatives, including retiree visas and the expansion of the 10-year golden visa programme to encourage foreign professionals to settle in the UAE, have helped to improve sentiment. Expo 2020 Dubai and the emirate's new remote working visa are also expected to drive up property demand. The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, which aims to make the city the world’s best to live in, will further boost its property market. Established in 2002, Deyaar has developed projects in the emirate's Business Bay, Dubai Marina, Al Barsha and Jumeirah Lakes Towers districts. Earlier this year, it announced the handover of the Bella Rose development, a 478 residential unit project in Dubai Science Park. Construction of the third and fourth phases of its Midtown residential project, which will add 11 more buildings to the development, is also progressing according to plan, it said in April. Majority-owned by Dubai Islamic Bank, the biggest Sharia-compliant lender in the UAE, Deyaar reported a five-fold jump in its first-quarter net income to Dh15.1 million ($4.14m) as revenue increased on project deliveries.