The Abu Dhabi Housing Authority has awarded Aldar Properties a contract to build nearly 1,000 villas in Al Falah as part of the government's infrastructure boost.
Under the new contract, Aldar will build 996 four and five-bedroom villas in the emerging 12.5 million square foot Al Falah district to the east of Abu Dhabi International Airport.
"In terms of the real estate market in Abu Dhabi we have seen some positive momentum in the first quarter this year compared to the last quarter of 2012," said Ali Eid AlMheiri, the chairman of Aldar and the proposed vice chairman of the new Aldar Sorouh company set to be created when the developer merges with rival Sorouh.
"We have seen a lot of demand for our residential products on Al Raha Beach and a lot of demand in our retail offering," he said.
The new homes come as an extension to the 4,857 homes Aldar has built at Al Falah, of which 2,079 have been handed over to residents.
Government housing projects have in recent years become an increasingly important source of revenue to both Aldar and its future partner Sorouh as the market for off-plan private sales has dried up in the capital.
Last year Aldar made Dh200m (US$54.4m) in net profits from its National Housing Programme work - out of a total net profit of Dh1.3 billion - and said it expected to make about the same amount from the sector this year.
Mr AlMheiri said that Aldar had sold 125 homes at its Raha Beach scheme during the first three months of the year - more than it managed for all of last yearwhen, according to company accounts, it made just 102 private sales.
He added that Aldar expected prices to grow by between 2 and 5 per cent over the coming year.
When asked if he was concerned about the thousands of new flats set to come onto the Abu Dhabi housing market over the coming year, Mr AlMheiri said; "I will be happy if I see prices stabilise because of all the new stock that is coming into the market. That's why we're not building any new apartment projects right now. Prices in Dubai might be going up. Prices in Abu Dhabi are stabilising. So maybe it makes more economic sense for [investors] to go back to Abu Dhabi."
lbarnard@thenational.ae
Analysis
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Roger Federer's 2018 record
Australian Open Champion
Rotterdam Champion
Indian Wells Runner-up
Miami Second round
Stuttgart Champion
Halle Runner-up
Wimbledon Quarter-finals
Cincinnati Runner-up
US Open Fourth round
Shanghai Semi-finals
Basel Champion
Paris Masters Semi-finals
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Scores
Oman 109-3 in 18.4 overs (Aqib Ilyas 45 not out, Aamir Kaleem 27) beat UAE 108-9 in 20 overs (Usman 27, Mustafa 24, Fayyaz 3-16, Bilal 3-23)
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
Company%20profile
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Stage results
1. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:39:05
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) Team BikeExchange 0:00:08
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma same time
4. Jack Haig (AUS) Bahrain Victorious s.t
5. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe s.t
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates s.t
7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ s.t
8. Sergio Higuita Garcia (COL) EF Education-Nippo s.t
9. Bauke Mollema (NED) Trek-Segafredo s.t
10. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers s.t
