Cilia at Ghaf Woods

Majid Al Futtaim is the Dubai group behind Mall of the Emirates and the City Centre malls, and the developer of the Tilal Al Ghaf community.

It is better known for retail and leisure than for housing, and that background shows in how it develops: communities are planned around a destination, with the retail and amenity treated as the main attraction rather than an afterthought.

What do they build?

Large mixed use destinations and, more recently, master planned residential communities at the upper end of the market. Tilal Al Ghaf is the flagship: villas and townhouses around a man made swimmable lagoon, with its own retail and beach club.

Where do they build?

• Tilal Al Ghaf, the lagoon community off Hessa Street.
• Al Barsha, home to Mall of the Emirates and Ski Dubai.
• City Centre malls across Deira, Mirdif and Al Barsha, which anchor the districts around them.

What should you check before buying?

• Which phase, since a community of this size is released over years and early phases sit next to construction for a while.
• Distance to the lagoon and the beach club, which is the amenity people are paying for and the main price driver.
• Service charges, which on a community with a lagoon, a beach club and extensive landscaping are at the higher end and need checking before you model a yield.
• Resale competition within your own cluster, where units are often close to identical.

Are they a safe developer to buy from?

The group is one of the largest and most established private companies in the region, with a long record of completing and then operating what it builds, which is a useful distinction: an operator has a reason to keep standards up after handover. The questions worth your time here are about price, phase and running costs rather than about whether the community gets finished.