Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

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

By Valentina Pasquali
Dubai The World Villas Amali
Prices for the villas being built by Amali on the World project range from AED50 million ($14 million) to AED250 million
  • 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.”

Person, Electronics, Mobile Phone

Newsletter
Get the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week

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. 

“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.

Dubai The Wolrd villasAmali
The community will feature 24 high-end homes across 11 hectares on the islands of Uruguay and São Paolo
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. 

Latest articles

Sainsbury's has the second-largest share of the UK grocery market, at 15 percent, behind Tesco at 28 percent

Qatar to reduce stake in UK supermarket Sainsbury’s

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is selling part of its 15 percent stake in the British supermarket Sainsbury’s as the fund pushes ahead with expansion in the United States and Asia, particularly China and India. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the biggest shareholder in Sainsbury’s, is selling £306 million ($399 million) worth of shares in the retailer, […]

Shoppers in Kuwait's Avenues Mall – the IMF says the country needs to encourage private sector employment

Kuwait needs to push reforms for economic growth, says IMF

Kuwait must accelerate the introduction of fiscal and structural reforms that are needed to increase private sector-led growth and diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday. Kuwait’s economy will contract by 3.2 percent this year because of an Opec+ oil production cut, but will grow by 2.8 percent in 2025 […]

Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates, (UAE) speaks during the Skybridge Capital SALT New York 2021 conference in New York City, U.S., September 15, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade, said 'Malaysia offers substantial opportunity for our exporters, industrialists and business leaders' UAE Malaysia Cepa

UAE and Malaysia sign Cepa to increase bilateral trade

The UAE and Malaysia have signed a free trade deal, bringing the number of deals the Gulf state has agreed with foreign governments to 12. The comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) will seek to eliminate or reduce tariffs, lower trade barriers, increase private sector collaboration and create new investment opportunities, the two countries said in a […]

Adnoc LNG

Adnoc drops plan to upgrade UAE’s only LNG facility

An upgrade of the Das Island liquefied natural gas plant has been cancelled by Adnoc Gas, as it shifts priorities towards greenfield developments. “We have a funnel of exciting opportunities in which we can invest while at the same time exercising capital discipline,” Adnoc Gas said. Das Island’s liquefaction and export terminal, the only LNG […]