My Thoughts
Eye C I agree
Do not believe all the Hype that Real Estate Agents will tell you. England was all ways marketed to those who "believed they were buying into "England"
When its all said and done and the whole complex is completed most of the apartments will average out to the same except for Spain and Morocco.
If you are familiar with Dubai and the town Karama then International City is the New Karama" I.C will give you good cash flow but forget about making a killing with future short term Capital Gains. This will not happen until the project is completed in full and thats at least 2 years away if not more.
Spain has turned out to be the " Ugly Duckling" and is by far the most out standing aesthetically from the out side.Hold on to Spain it will out sell England easy.
Morocco is practically next door to the Sewage works, if you are able to off load it get rid of it while you can before the word or should I say stink gets out...
International City as an investment provides good cash flow but as a future Capital Gain, its been a dismal fizzer so far if you brought at the concept stage and this will not change until Nakheel finish the project completely. There is no sign at all of the Forbidden City Complex that formed such a large part of the initial Nakheel Sales Pitch 4 years ago.
The "Hidden City" would be a more accurate term. My money is on Nakheel making "Alterations" to the master plan and down sizing or selling off this plot to be another CBD project.
Nakheel as "Master Developer" dropped the ball big time on the International City Project . Lots of Complaints regarding lack of information, Miss Information, outrageous Fees that are being charged, lack of greenery, Product Delivery and Product Quality. ( I have had them come back twice to my apartment to complete a very sloppy paint job and also fix water leakage problems and i was told that my building contractor was one of the better ones!)
Once shops are occupied and buildings have more tenants then parking will become an issue, there is just no parking space at all for those shops in the front of the buildings! And we have to pay huge outrageous service fees for the concrete jungle, there is very little greenery.
Another complaint Nakheel "flooded" the Rental market with low cost apartments, this has changed the Market price however I am still able to generate 13% net return after all bills have been paid.
As a Landlord you are also locked into what ever the Dubai Rental Committee comes up with, this restricts you to raising the rent for a period of 2 years and when that 2 years is up by only 7%. I suspect that that in the future this ruling will change again. From a tenants view point I.C. is the most affordable project in the City.
It is beyond me how Nakheel were ever awarded the huge water front project given they could not deliver on an affordable low cost project such as International City. As an Investor I would never purchase from Nakheel again.
It also depends as an investor what currency you brought your apartment with. You can have differing positions depending if you purchased on a Euro/Sterling or US $ Balance sheet. Given the drop in the US Dollar / UAE Durham against most other currencies then purchasing apartments in the IC District takes on a different view today than when it did 12 to 18 months ago.
I am happy with the cash flow, disappointed with Nakheel but will hold for the moment Given that there has not yet been a project in Dubai that on completion has not increased a substantial amount, there continue to be project Delays Dubai wide and people are still flocking to Dubai, every one needs a place to stay.
The saying "Build it and they will Come" certainly applies to Dubai
|