Nakheel reported a 28 per cent rise in first-quarter profits to Dh629 million after handing over 400 homes across Dubai.
The developer behind Dubai’s Palm islands generated sales of Dh1.37 billion over the same period as it handed over homes on developments such as the Palm Jumeirah, Al Furjan and International City.
The results for the first three months keep pace with last year’s performance, when the developer recorded a 27 per cent rise in profits to Dh2.57bn for the full year.
“We continue to deliver ahead of our business plan,” said the chairman, Ali Rashid Lootah. “In addition, we are well on course to further reduce our bank debt during 2014, having already paid off a substantial amount of Dh2.35bn a year and a half before it was due.”
A rebound in property prices in the emirate has helped Nakheel emerge from the depths of the 2008 property crash and ensuing 2009 Dubai World debt crisis. It was forced to halt work on developments across the city and transfer ownership of its planned homes in stalled and cancelled developments into ones it could complete, in a process that became known as consolidation.
Now the developer, which has been spun off from Dubai World, is returning to construction after launching several new projects over the past year, including two major retail developments on the Palm Jumeirah. It aims to deliver about 1,200 units to investors this year.
Limitless, another developer formerly owned by Dubai World, is seeking to defer a US$400m payment due in December that forms part of a $1.2bn Islamic loan, Bloomberg News reported this week.
Nakheel took control of Limitless in 2010.
A Nakheel spokeswoman declined to comment on the Limitless payment but said that discussions were taking place.
Dubai developers are scrambling to launch new projects amid a strong return to confidence that has fuelled double-digit rent and price increases.
House prices grew 6 per cent in the first three months of the year compared to the previous quarter, Asteco said yesterday. Apartment prices gained 3 per cent.
“Now we are witnessing growth in secondary residential areas, which are attracting prospective purchasers looking for more sensible asking rates with potentially better growth potential,” said John Stevens, the managing director of the real estate services company Asteco.
scronin@thenational.ae
