Competitive prices open opportunities for families looking to move away from crowded communities - Property Weekly Home Guide - MAY 21, 2020

1. Trends4
MAY 21, 2020
Property Weekly Home Guide 5
MAY 21, 2020
Property Weekly Home Guide Partner Content
Covid-19stirsupdemand
forvillasandtownhouses
Competitive prices open opportunities for families looking to move away
from crowded communities
T
he new norms of social distancing
brought about by Covid-19 are creat-
ing new trends in the residential mar-
ket. Many families now want to move
away from apartments and into villas or town
houses to stay away from the big crowds. “We
are seeing more enquiries for both villas and
town houses,” says Rakesh Mirchandani, CEO
of RNR International Real Estate. “Homebuyers
have realised that when there is a restriction to
go out, having a garden at home will give them
space to sit outside, do some activities and get
some natural sunlight.
“Buyers want to have more privacy, more
space and a private garden that can be of use
for all, including elderly parents and young
children. However, we have seen the increase
in inquiries for villas and town houses from the
beginning of the year, which primarily could
be due to the correction in prices.”
Meanwhile, Harry Tregoning, managing
partner of Tregoning Property, believes social
distancing and the emerging “new normal”
are not the main drivers towards villas. “The
demand is much more coming from what vil-
las offer that apartments do not, along with the
supply of more affordable options, which has
raised the buyer’s interest,” says Tregoning.
He agrees, though, that many families
stuck at home during the pandemic may find
the limited space of apartments a little dis-
comforting. “I think anyone who lived in a
two- or three-bedroom apartment with chil-
dren during the lockdown wished for a little
more space for the children to get more air and
exercise,” says Tregoning. “We have also no-
ticed that there has been an increase in inter-
est in villas with private pools. With communal
pools closed and the warmer months coming,
this trend is probably a more obvious one.”
Spike in leads
Naval Vohra, CEO of Appello Real Estate,
says sales leads in his firm have increased 180
per cent in the last 40 days. “About 80 per cent
of our leads are families that prefer villas and
town houses over apartments, where privacy
and social distancing were among the top rea-
sons to move for these clients,” says Vohra.
“Some clients also want a nice and green garden
area for their children to make full use of due to
many schools turning towards e-learning. One
thing coronavirus has made us all appreciate is
the enjoyment and value of a spacious, well-
planned home and garden. However, the big-
gest draw for people searching for villas right
now is that there are some hot deals available
due to the market being rather down.”
Sale enquiries for villas in Dubai have surged
by 46 per cent last week compared to the same
period last year, according to Property Finder.
Rental villa enquiries were also up by 87 per
cent compared to the same week last year.
“Needless to say, during the Covid-19 situation
it has been apparent through the data that this
is a time when people are valuing personal, out-
side space in their homes,” said Lynnette Abad,
director of research and data at Property Finder.
Preferred communities
Citing figures from Bayut, Mirchandani
says freehold areas such as The Villa, Arabian
Ranches and Palm Jumeirah top the list of villa
communities. “Especially for Palm Jumeirah,
we’ve noticed a surge in demand and inquir-
ies from buyers that have shown interest to buy
the popular beachfront garden homes,” says
Mirchandani. “These garden homes are priced
in the range of Dh6.2 million-Dh9 million de-
pending on the location on the frond, the type,
and if it’s upgraded it would be higher in price.”
He adds that Dubai Hills is an upcoming
area to consider. “The prices of the Sidra vil-
las and Maple town houses are on their low-
est ever, and they are worth considering. Both
the Sidra and Maple communities consist of
three-bedroom, four-bedroom and five-bed-
room villas or town houses. The Sidra villas are
priced between Dh3 million and Dh4.5 mil-
lion, while the Maple town houses are priced
between Dh1.8 million and Dh3 million.”
Tregoning says Arabian Ranches, Victory
Heights and Emirates Living will continue to
be very popular among villa buyers. Some of
the newer, more affordable communities in Al
Qudra are also now proving popular, he adds.
“In the sales market, it is very much still
going, but there certainly seems to be a bit
more of a wait-and-see approach from buy-
ers who are waiting to see what happens to
the market when the borders are opened, and
international travel returns,” says Tregoning.
“Many customers I meet expect prices to have
fallen off a cliff, but that is not the case yet at
all. The Dubai Land Department continues to
publish encouraging sales figures.”
Vohra, meanwhile, cites Dubai Hills Estate,
Arabian Ranches, MBR City, Palm Jumeirah,
Jumeirah Park and Jumeirah Village Triangle
as the top-performing villa communities of his
firm. “Jumeirah Island and Palm Jumeirah have
also been attracting a lot of buyer attention from
those who have a slightly higher budget.”
Choosing the right villa
Vohra suggests buyers to consider a few
things when researching areas for a home.
“You may find the villa of your dreams, but
does the community itself work for you and
your family’s lifestyle? Consider the plot size
and cost for extensions,” says Vohra. “Also, are
there good schools nearby? Are pets allowed?
Is there easy access to the city for commuting?
Also, what are the community maintenance
costs for living there? A good tip is finding out
who the master developer is as this will offer
insight into the quality of amenities and gen-
eral upkeep of the area.”
Hina Navin
Special to Property Weekly
Picture credit
Arabian Ranches has been among the top choices of home-hunters in recent months
Popularvilla communities
Community Prices start from
Arabian Ranches Dh2.65 million
Dubai Hills Estate Dh2.7 million
Jumeirah Park Dh2.5 million
MBR City Dh7.5 million
Palm Jumeirah Dh7.5 million
Source: Appello Real Estate
A
s the lockdown continues, cooking
shows and home cooking tips are all the
rage, but do you know whether what
you are cooking is helping your body or hin-
dering it?
Yes, the food that you choose to eat some-
times feeds the disease instead of fighting it
and consumers don’t make that connection. It
was this realisation about the gap in education
and understanding of health and wellness in
the UAE that led Dubai resident Lee Sandwith
to start ingfit, a nutrition and lifestyle store in
the emirates. Sandwith had experienced his
own personal weight loss and metabolic heal-
ing journey, and started the initiative to make
people realise that nutrition and lifestyle are
central to the metabolic diseases plaguing our
population today.
“Whatpeopledon’trealiseisthatweweren’t
designed to have a constant stream of high-
carb processed foods in our diets, and because
we have fed our bodies this way for a lifetime,
the signalling pathways that are activated in re-
sponse to these carbohydrates are overworked
and begin to break down, causing compro-
mised immunity and metabolic disease,” says
Sandwith, who serves as general manager and
head nutrition expert of ingfit. “Pair this with
the daily consumption of oils, which are proven
to damage our cells — sunflower, canola, grape-
seed, the list goes on — and you really have a
recipe for disaster in the body.”
A Khalifa Fund company
Sandwith’s idea was further fuelled when
he met Dr Khadija Al Ameri, a business school
professor in Zayed University. Al Ameri was in-
terested in public health in the UAE and con-
cerned about the rising numbers of obesity,
diabetes and heart disease. When they met,
ingfit began to grow its wings and the vision
was born. It was under Dr Khadija’s leader-
ship and entrepreneurship that ingfit became
a Khalifa Fund company earlier this year.
“Our goal is to have a society where the
health of our nation is aligned with the ex-
traordinary progress the UAE has made in oth-
er fields,” explains Dr Al Ameri. “Where peo-
ple live an active, mindful life and choose a diet
comprising high-quality wholefoods instead
of medication. Our hope is to radically trans-
form the health of the UAE through education,
coaching and offering products, which comply
with cutting-edge nutritional science.”
The Keto diet
ingfit primarily embraces the keto diet, but
has widened its reach to include paleo and ve-
gan options as well to support consumers on
their personal health journeys. Popular prod-
ucts include low-carb replacements of favour-
ite foods, such as breads, pastas and snacks,
as well as their range of clean oil mayos. ingfit
also has its own range of keto-friendly bread
mixes, pizza base mixes and pastas. Home de-
livery is available all across the UAE, with a
next-day delivery option in Dubai if the order
is placed before 2pm. Freshly baked goods in
the basket has a delivery time of two days.
“We have always believed that keto is a die-
tary intervention, which serves the purpose of
healing most people’s bodies from metabolic
disease, says Sandwith. “However, once this
healing has taken place there is room to move
towards increasing carb intake, but mak-
ing sure that it’s from healthy carbohydrates.
Paleo is also a great option for people with
autoimmune conditions as it doesn’t include
gluten or dairy, both of which can be inflam-
matory for some people. Some people choose
vegan or vegetarian diets. We wanted to make
sure they have a safe place to shop.”
A Covid-19 wake-up call
Talking about the importance of metabolic
health during a pandemic, such as Covid-19,
Sandwith says, “If you look at the deaths from
Covid-19, they are overwhelmingly people
with underlying metabolic conditions. And
those who have had the hardest time with the
disease and are left with permanent damage
belong to the same group. Throughout our life-
times, we slowly erode our immune systems by
constantly feeding them sugar, vegetable oils
and trans fats. So when a pathogen such as
Covid-19 arrives in the body, the immune sys-
tem is already so compromised from a lifetime
of disuse that it is not able to win the fight. If
there was ever a wake-up call to realise that
every bite we take is either fighting the disease
or feeding it, it has been with this pandemic.”
The ingfit philosophy
Sandwith says there are three key issues at
the core of ingfit’s philosophy. “First, the path
to wellness must start with an acceptance of
ownership; Second is the importance of self-
education. We have access to all of the infor-
mation we need to learn about health, wellness
and nutrition, but a major component of this is
learning about yourself. There is the need for
a personalised approach to wellness as no two
bodies are the same. Last but not least is the
value of community. We have a fabulous com-
munity in the UAE and being part of it makes
the journey fulfilling and rewarding.”
ingfit’s advisory board, which oversees
the brand’s product choices and nutritional
education, includes leading world authori-
ties on healing metabolic diseases, such as Dr
Eric Westman and Dr Ali Al Lawati, as well as
doctors currently implementing keto to treat
metabolic disease here in the UAE such as
Dr Feruza Gafarova. Consumers can choose
to work with ingfit’s recommended health
coaches and nutritionists listed on the site to
reach their weight and nutrition goals.
Coviddiet:Areyoueatingright?
Every bite we take is either fighting the disease or feeding it, says UAE
nutrition expert Lee Sandwith, founder of ingfit
Eidoffer
Lee Sandwith believes that self-education is of primary
importance for a sustained wellness plan. ingfit has now put
together the most important information on the basics of
metabolic health and how to drastically improve yours
permanently (and lose weight along with it).
The brand is launching three tiers of this weight-loss
and self-education package after Eid at
50 per cent off for five days. To sign up,
visit https://bit.ly/36d3FlY.
Pictures: Supplied
Popular ingfit products include healthy replacements of favourite foods as well as its
range of clean oil mayos
Esha Nag
Property Weekly Editor