Property developers look to Indian celebrities to sell homes to UAE expats

Developers are hoping endorsements by high profile Indian sports stars and Bollywood celebrities will persuade wealthy residents from the sub-continent to invest in off-plan building projects.

An advertisement with Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian cricketer and brand ambassador of Danube, opposite the World Trade Centre. Pawan Singh / The National

DUBAI // Property developers are turning to sports stars and Bollywood celebrities to persuade wealthy Indian expatriates to invest in their projects.

The former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and movie star Shah Rukh Khan are the latest to sign up as “ambassadors” for housing developments in Dubai.

Khan appears on billboards advertising Royal Estate, a Dh2.3 billion plan for 2,000 apartments and villas, a luxury hotel and shops in Dubai Investment Park.

“Shah Rukh understands the business, he understands marketing and he was convinced by the project,” said Parvez Khan, chairman of Pacific Ventures, one of the developers.

“People believe in SRK, they know he will not just give his name to a project without checking,” Mr Khan said.

“They know he will not promote a brand that will not perform. This works for us also because we want to be associated with this image,” Mr Khan said.

SRK and his wife Gauri, who will help to design the development’s interiors, will be in Dubai today to speak about the project to 600 specially invited guests from India, Pakistan, Canada and the UK.

Homes in the development go on sale off-plan on Thursday, with apartments starting at Dh450,000 and townhouses from Dh1.6m.

The first 42 villas are expected to be handed over by October and another 200 town houses are scheduled for delivery in 18 months.

Gavaskar, India’s legendary former opening batsman, is the face of the Dh500m “Dreamz by Danube” development of 175 townhouses in Al Furjan.

“We wanted to tap his fame and respect in India to woo the thousands of South Asians living here in the UAE towards investing in our project,” said Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman of the Danube Group.

“He has been made the face of our ad campaign so that Indian expat investors are assured of our project’s superior quality.

“Mr Gavaskar himself would have never come on board with us had he not been convinced of our dedication and quality. Him becoming the torch-bearer for our project will definitely help us bag more buyers since South Asians buyers feel a sentimental bond with him.”

The development’s three and four-bedroom townhouses start at Dh2.5m. Construction is expected to begin soon with handover planned in 2016.

The focus on Indian celebrities makes business sense: the Indian community is the largest expatriate property-buying group in Dubai, with investments of nearly Dh6 billion in the first three months of this year.

Of 130 nationalities who bought property in the emirate last year, Indians invested Dh18bn, British citizens Dh10bn and Pakistanis Dh8bn.

“It is indisputable that Indian expats form the largest group of property buyers in Dubai,” Mr Sajan said.

“Any builder who has Indians as his client base is more or less assured of the project’s success since there will be healthy buying. We focused on Indians along with the other buyers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even England to attract them to pool in for our project.”