Ghaf Woods

Bought heavily into Ghaf Woods at 2 different phases. 20-25 year hold for me. It's an end-user focused community with little to no direct comps. It will generate cult-like demand once mature in another 10 years or so. Please have longer horizons when it comes to RE. It is a relatively illiquid asset class regardless of what this market might make it seem like at times. It it's core you are buying housing and infrastructure. Relax, make your payments if you can and forget about it.

I pass by Ghaf woods everyday... The work and progress there is astounding. The geopolitical situation is tough.. And in these times of economic uncertainty all kinds of doubts creep in. But I'm fairly confident we will recover from this... May take a 1-2 years, but we will. If you can stay the course... Stay invested. I've been through two down turns here... Seen my properties fall to less than half their market top prices. I just held on to them... And everything recovered and am happy I held on. Yes I had my moments of doubt. But sometimes doing noting, is doing something.

If their margins were so high, they wouldn’t be giving these discounts and waivers. Building your own villa for 120K USD reflects direct construction cost. Developers, however, deal with: Land acquisition and financing costs Government fees, permits, and infrastructure obligations Sales, marketing, and brokerage commissions Interest on borrowed capital Delays, holding costs, and unsold inventory risks Community amenities, compliance, and master planning So while raw construction may seem inexpensive, actual net margins are often far thinner once full project costs are considered. Yes, some developers can have strong margins depending on timing and land purchase strategy, like Emaar & Majid Al Futtaim. Emaar definitely will survive this. Majid Al Futtaim is now finding it difficult to sell the remaining inventory of Ghaf Woods. But many off-plan projects operate on volume and financing structures where sudden increases in imported material costs can seriously affect profitability. Development at scale is much more complex than just labor + materials.

IMPZ is one of those areas that just quietly does its job. 7,300 ready units, 10,300 under construction. It’s not exciting, it’s not booming, but it keeps giving decent rental returns because people move there for affordability. There’s no big story driving prices up, so you’re not going to see crazy appreciation, but at the same time, it’s not under pressure either. It’s a “park your money and earn rent” kind of market. But keep in mind that most of these 7,300 ready units are very old, older than 2010. This is a good point, especially if you are buying off-plan units now. The upcoming 10,300 units will have decent appreciation and high ROI, just because they are new, and obviously end user demand will be high. Majan looks attractive because prices are low and developers are pushing it hard, but the supply coming in is quite heavy compared to the actual demand on the ground. 2,400 ready units but 12,300 units under construction (5X the current supply.) That’s where the risk is. If demand doesn’t catch up, it can easily go the JVC route in a few years. So it’s not a bad area, but it’s one where timing and entry price matter a lot. Close to Majan, unique forest themed projects like Ghaf Woods & Sakura Gardens are good options. But for all other regular projects, oversupply is a real risk, like JVC, at least in the future.

All these areas are now selling for 1,400 to 1,500 AED PSF. I have uploaded PSF graphs below in the comments, for all the three locations. If you are getting something cheaper, it's very good value. If something is more than this range, it clearly shouldn't be an average option and must provide some extra value - like Ghaf Woods by Majid Al Futtaim near Majan. Let me know if you need one-on-one personalised investment consultation, covering not just PSF, but also lifestyle factors, livability, rental projections, ROI estimates, proper exit plans etc. u/Next_Foot4942