Riverside

DAMAC Properties is one of the largest private developers in Dubai and one of the most recognisable, partly through branded residences carrying names from outside property: Cavalli, de GRISOGONO, Versace. It builds at volume across the full range, from mid market apartments to villa communities with artificial lagoons.

What do they build?

Apartments, townhouses and villas, and a lot of them. The two things DAMAC is best known for are the master communities out along the Al Ain road, and the branded towers in the central districts. We are currently marketing 34 completed DAMAC properties from AED 55,000.

Where do they build?

DAMAC tends to build its own districts rather than buy into other people's, which is why so many carry the name.

• Damac Lagoons: 24 properties
• Business Bay: 2 properties
• Damac Hills: 2 properties
• Damac Hills 2: 2 properties
• Jumeirah Village Circle: 2 properties
• Al Marjan Island: 1 property

DAMAC Hills and DAMAC Lagoons are the two large villa and townhouse communities. Business Bay and the central towers are a separate proposition entirely.

What should you check before buying?

• Which phase, and what is still to be built. The lagoon communities are large and delivered in clusters. An early cluster means living beside construction for years.
• Service charges on the amenity heavy schemes. Lagoons, wave pools and landscaped beaches are expensive to run and that cost recurs annually.
• How far out you actually are. Drive the commute at rush hour before you buy. The price difference against a central district is real, and so is the journey.
• How much similar stock releases in the same year. DAMAC builds at volume, and in its own communities your competition at resale is often the same developer.
• What a branded residence premium is buying you. Sometimes a genuinely different specification, sometimes a name on the lobby. Worth separating.

Are they a safe developer to buy from?

DAMAC has delivered at scale in Dubai over a long period, and completion is not the concern. The things to weigh are the ones that come with volume: a lot of comparable units arriving together, service charges on amenity led schemes, and locations that are cheaper because they are further out. All three are knowable before you commit.