'Ohana by the Sea' is located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
'Ohana by the Sea' is located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
'Ohana by the Sea' is located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
'Ohana by the Sea' is located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai

Premium coastal development outside Abu Dhabi sells out in 30 days for over Dh240 million

Ohana by the Sea development success could see more 'exclusivity' projects in the UAE

Advertorial

May 18, 2023

Metropolitan Capital Real Estate has sold the entire Ohana by the Sea development, a collection of 45 premium villas at the Dubai and Ghantout border, in under 30 days. This marks one of the quickest off-market sales in the UAE for an entire development of villas given to an agency on an exclusivity basis.

More than 80 per cent of the villas were sold off-market to VIP clients of the Metropolitan Group, consisting of customers from European and CIS countries.

Ohana by the Sea is a collection of 45 premium villas
Ohana by the Sea is a collection of 45 premium villas

Ohana by The Sea Villas is a luxurious residential community by Ohana Development, between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The community, which is along the Arabian Riviera of Sahel Al Emarat in Ghantout, offers coastal living in a secluded family-friendly community.

The residential project consists of four to five-bedroom villas from Dh4,600,000 and ranging from 275 square metres to 555 sq m.

Evgeny Ratskevich, chief exectutive of Metropolitan Capital Real Estate, said: “Most real estate projects in the UAE are sold on the open market which means multiple agencies are involved in the sales process.

"However in many international real estate markets projects are given to trusted agencies on an exclusivity basis as this can really streamline the process for a developer.

"For one agency to sell the entire project in under 30 days is probably a record in the UAE and, after the success of Ohana, I wouldn’t be surprised if working on an exclusivity basis with niche developers is the start of an emerging trend in the market.

"For a luxury project outside of a major UAE city to sell out so quickly shows that there is an appetite for premium coastal locations across the country, not just in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.”

Ohana by The Sea Villas
Ohana by The Sea Villas

Husein Salem, chief operations and development officer of Ohana Development, said: “We looked at several options for the best way to market and sell our project and finally decided to award it to Metropolitan Capital Real Estate on an exclusivity basis.

"Their experience in off-plan projects, overall brand visibility and reputation in the market was key to our decision. Their team also immersed themselves in our product and their ability to take on the entire project from A-Z including the sales and marketing was appealing to us and proved to be the right decision.

"The Ohana by the Sea coastal community seamlessly integrates with the natural and raw beauty of the community. The development blends into the natural environment and encourages guests and residents to become protectors of the ecosystem to preserve the heritage of Sahel Al Emarat."

Husein Salem, chief operations and development officer of Ohana Development
Husein Salem, chief operations and development officer of Ohana Development
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Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.

Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.

Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.

Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.

Saraya Al Khorasani:  The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Updated: May 19, 2023, 11:41 AM