Tenants begin moving to Reem Island

Owners and tenants began moving to the tiny Reem Island that has been turned from a desolate, lifeless strip of land into one of the most luxurious residential areas in Abu Dhabi following the completion of most property projects.

Nearly 550 families have already moved into their property and thousands others are expected to dwell the island in the coming months as nearly all infrastructure projects have been completed, including a massive causeway linking it to the mainland at the eastern flank of the city.

In a report published on Monday, the semi official daily Alittihad said the 550 families had moved into the two high towers, Sky and Sun, owned by Surouh real estate company, adding that Surouh had sold or rented out 700 apartments in the two towers, nearly 60 per cent of their total 1,154 housing units.

“According to developers, rents on Reem have fallen by around 10 per cent since the start of 2011,” the paper said.

It quoted Abu Bakr Khouri, Surouh’s managing director, as saying a one-bed room apartment in the two towers is now rented at around Dh95,000 per year while the rent of a two-bed room and three-bed room flats average nearly Dh135,000 and Dh185,000 respectively.

The paper quoted another developer as saying nearly half of the owners in some towers in the Marine Square intend to rent out their flats on the island.

“Perhaps only 25 per cent of the owners intend to live on the island while the remaining 25 per cent are expected to sell their units,” he said.

Reem, which has undergone massive development over the past few years including infrastructure projects worth around Dh14 billion, will be home to more than 100,000 people when all housing projects are finished.

Property experts said the Reem project, carried out by Reem, Surouh and Tamouh developers, would contribute to further depressing rents in Abu Dhabi, where they are already down by over 40 per cent over the past two years because of lower construction costs, easing demand and an increase in supply from Khalifa City and other housing projects.

Reem, an Arabic for deer, has been transformed from a little strip of land staring soundlessly round the clock for centuries at the city’s busy life and dazzling lights into a huge habitat that could form the nucleus of the future capital.

Located less than 200 metres from the nearest coastal point in the Capital, Reem has an area of just one million square metres. But it will easily accommodate up more than 100,000 people given the massive high-rise towers that have been erected on the strip to dwarf the nearby buildings on mainland.

Besides bridges and causeways, Abu Dhabi is also constructing one of the Middle East’s longest tunnels opposite Reem to avert traffic congestions. Al Reem and nearby Saadiyat are among several projects to be carried out by Abu Dhabi within its 2030 development blueprint that envisages the capital’s population to nearly triple to three million.

According to the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, projects cover nearly 200 islands and their total costs could exceed Dh150bn.
 

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