16 n 25 May 2008 n TheBusinessWeekly

corporate focus

The just-launched Property House Real Estate, which is an offshoot of the Dubai-based PH Holdings, a specialist investment group in the UAE with sizeable investments in almost every commercial sector, has big plans worth $1 billion in its real estate portfolio, Muham-mad Nazir, CEO and managing director of the company, has said.

Property House, which has sev-eral projects currently in the pipe-line, will soon be unveiling resi-dential and office projects such as the Barbaro and Sundance, which will be located in the downtown Majan area of Dubailand. Sales for these developments will com-mence over the next two weeks, while the Al Helio development offering has already commenced. Mirror Walk, another residential project, will begin sales within the next three weeks.

Al Helio Downtown is Proper-ty House’s latest project that will transform Ajman downtown into an independent city. It will be a mixed-use development to house schools, colleges, universities and a hospital, plus residential and commercial spaces. Furthermore, most of the company’s projects will be environmentally sound and will concentrate on energy efficiency.

“The buildings will be eco-friendly. We also focus on energy efficiency. Water has to be recy-

cled. Even the glass, the way it is positioned, is being considered in consultation with our architects in Spain and Germany to make sure that we optimise energy efficiency in all our buildings. We are com-bating the green house effect and doing our part against the global warming issue,” Nazir said.

Innovative propositionsElaborating on the company’s

plans, Amit Kochar, general man-ager for projects, told The Busi-ness Weekly that the company was considering global expansion at this stage itself although it is focusing on its core business in the UAE for the time being.

Seeking to introduce innova-tive and functional architectural investment propositions in the UAE, Property House will look to be placed among the region’s top

five real estate companies in the next two years. The company has been busy acquiring land in the region and features a land port-folio of approximately six million square feet in Dubai and Ajman.

Commenting on ways to achieving the company’s plan to become one of the top five in the real estate market, Kochar said, “We plan to do this, basically, by delivering on what we commit. We honour our commitments with clients and investors. That’s the key in our ambition to become dominant in the region.”

28 pc marketshare targetSpeaking about the cover-

age entailed by occupying one of the top positions in real estate, Kochar said, “The market share which we are aiming for is 28 to 32 per cent.”

While this is a very ambitious claim, Property House will differ-entiate itself from other property developers and real estate compa-nies through the studies on prop-erty supply and demand which it conducted in the past.

“The products that we will be presenting soon have been envi-sioned and studied many years back. We have also studied the supply and demand of properties for the next few years. And as far as the supply and demand are concerned, it’s very much maxed, very much maintained and closely monitored by the Government,” Kochar said.

In addition, Kochar said the image that it will project to clients

and investors will be, in a subtle way, different and will help them stand out in the industry. “We are a normal, regular real estate com-pany that will deliver on what we commit. We are black and white regarding our business and in-vestment strategies. By black and white, I mean very clear and very transparent,” he added.

DESCO joint ventureThe company aims at becom-

ing one of the leading players in the industry. Prior to the formal launch, Property House made significant investments in the Al Helio Downtown mini city devel-opment in Ajman, through a joint venture with DESCO, the South Korean master developer. Prop-erty House Real Estate will also be employing in its race to the top its decade-old sister entities which include MN Developers, MN En-terprises, and Property House in Istanbul, Turkey.

Nazir said, “The leadership in the UAE has created a buoy-ant real estate sector that offers unparalleled investment oppor-tunities. Our own analysis and feedback from the investment community in Pakistan, India and China as well as other emerging markets such as South Korea and Brazil have revealed that inves-tors are interested in tapping these lucrative opportunities. As an in-novative business house, Property House will act as a vehicle to at-tract these investments.”

Nazir told TBW that “policies and the UAE government support for infrastructure and construc-tion facilitate investment in real estate, and due to this, we are confident that the growth will con-tinue for the next decade and the market will be sustainable. We see no imminent bubble bursting or any problems happening within the next 10 years.”

“Dubai is a top tourist destina-tion in the Middle East and in the world, and we feel confident that what we are doing at the moment, by launching Property House at this time, in 2008, as long as we deliver our projects and we stick to our investors and provide the right products and vehicles for them, will make Property House realise success.”

Property House invests $1b in UAE realtyPlans afoot to go global

By Jim Paolo Joquico

Amit Kochar and Muhamed Nazir

Mirror Walk