Real Estate expert warns against misleading off-plan offers

CAIRO - 8 July 2017: Home buyers in Dubai purchase property based on “best price off-plan offers” when they should be focusing on the key factors that attract end users, Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties, a real estate company, said in a statement this week.

Al Msaddi cites Dubai’s Downtown as an example, mentioning that it features off-plan two-bedroom apartments with low prices of AED 1.6 million while others are offered at prices of AED 2.5 million, emphasizing that “best price promotions are often misleading’.

He added that low-priced properties can turn out to be more expensive when the price is measured per square foot; however buyers who are inexperienced would not recognize this fact, due to their off-plan purchase, and they will realize how small the apartment is when it is too late.

Al Msaddi said that this case often occurs in Downtown Dubai where the consumers are mainly from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Arabs or Indians who prefer spacious homes.

He added that the end-user demand should be the main driver of buyer’s investment decision rather than the price tag, payment plan, location or the developer’s brand.