Demand for beach plots sells 80% of The World villas in days

Amali

• 24 high-end homes across 11 hectares
• ‘In Dubai there isn’t any beachfront left’
• Prices for villas from $14m to $70m

An ultra-luxe villa community planned for Dubai’s The World Islands is more than 80 percent sold only days after first being announced, thanks to the dearth of available beachfront plots in the city.

The boutique developer Amali Properties, co-founded by siblings Ali and Amira Sajwani of Damac Properties, said last week that the community will be 24 high-end homes across 11 hectares on the islands of Uruguay and São Paolo.

“Interest has been great,” Ali Sajwani told AGBI on Friday. “We have a wide array of clients, Europe, India, some clients from the US, Middle Eastern clients and North Africa.”

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Sajwani said the lack of waterfront lots for development elsewhere in the city has made the World Islands villas increasingly appealing to companies going after the wealthiest individuals and families.

“If you look at the coast of Dubai today, there isn’t any beachfront left. The only real option if you want to develop beachfront moving forward is going to be in places like the World Islands,” Sajwani said. 

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“You have beautiful beaches, you have crystal clear waters. I think a lot of very high-end projects will end up coming to the World Islands.”  

The World Islands’ map-shaped development, which launched in 2023, has struggled to take off with the ups and downs of the real estate sector as well as the costs involved in having to build all necessary infrastructure and utilities from scratch. 

The government-owned developer Nakheel is in the process of redesigning the area, and has recently received contractors’ bids to reclaim some land and combine the 300 stand-alone islands into continents.

Amali

Most exclusive

Ultimately, Sajwani envisions the area becoming something of a Star Island, the “most exclusive” address in Miami and the most expensive neighbourhood in the entire US. 

There the typical home went for more than $40 million in 2022. Madonna, Sylvester Stallone, Shaquille O’Neal and other celebrities have all called the man-made island in Biscayne Bay home at one point or another.

Sajwani said Amali Properties aimed to complete the new World villa community in the first quarter of 2027. Prices for the villas range from AED50 million ($14 million)  to AED250 million.

He said he would draw on his recent experience developing a forthcoming Mandarin Oriental resort on a similarly undeveloped island in the Maldives in building the villas, amenities and infrastructure, from water treatment to power generation facilities.