One of the signs of Dubai's resurgent property market is the return of celebrity endorsements for new developments, but with an important difference compared to the previous boom. Now most of the faces are from Bollywood and Indian cricket, instead of westerners like Donald Trump, Pamela Anderson and Michael Schumacher.
Movie star Shah Rukh Khan is the public face of Royal Estate, a Dh2.3 billion scheme of 2,000 new apartments and villas. This is not just some hands-off endorsement for money because Mr Khan, better known as SRK, and his wife will help design the development’s interiors. Meanwhile, former opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar fronts “Dreamz by Danube”, a Dh500 million development.
This shift eastwards is no accident. Indians are the UAE’s largest expatriate property-buying group, with many finding this is a surer place to invest, either for homes to live in or to rent to others, than the rule-bound economy of their homeland. Last year they invested Dh18 billion.
Developers are banking on these household names convincing Indian investors about the quality of a development, but one could ask about the need to have a famous face to do that. After all, if the kitchen sink blocks, are you really going to call SRK?