RAK Properties is hoping to re-start some of its stalled hotel and housing projects this year after profits rose by more than a third in 2012.
The Ras Al Khaimah-based developer was badly hit by the economic downturn in 2008, which forced it to put key projects on hold.
Profits increased 35.7 per cent to Dh147.09 million (US$40.1m) last year, the company said in a filing.
Sales grew 12.5 per cent to Dh530.23m, boosted by the company's handover of 648 apartments and villas at Julphar Towers, Mina Al Arab and its RAK Tower in Marina Square on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi.
"The real estate outlook for the year 2013 appears to be promising," said Mohammed Sultan Al Qadi, the managing director and chief executive of RAK Properties.
He added that the company planned to restart work on its five-star hotel in the Mina Al Arab resort in Ras Al Khaimah and residential buildings in Abu Dhabi subject to "the availability of finance at affordable prices".
Advances from customers received by the company as part of payment plans for property sales stood at Dh330m compared with Dh1.19 billion the previous year.
The company added that it had been forced to hand back Dh40m in off-plan sales advances to customers because it had not fulfilled payment obligations - a significant fall from the Dh64m it had to hand back the previous year.
"So far there hasn't been much movement in the Northern Emirates property markets but we'll be looking at it over the next 12 months expecting to see it improving slightly," said Matthew Green, the head of Mena research for the property consultancy CBRE.
"For the hospitality sector visitor numbers were up last year and we might see more of an uptick on the back of that but we don't expect anything like the dramatic upturn we saw in 2007 or 2008 and overall we expect it to be relatively stable."
Last year, RAK said it had written down more than Dh11m worth of value on trading properties under development - an increase on the Dh4.4m it had written down the previous year.
RAK Properties was established in 2006 to "implement the emirate's plans to promote real estate, tourism and leisure facilities in RAK and invest in interesting projects".
The group also has interests in Tanzania and Georgia.
