Dubai’s newly established Higher Committee of Real Estate should work to regulate “unfair” competition between private developers and state-backed master developers in the emirate, according to Farhad Azizi, the CEO of Azizi Developments.
In an interview with Arabian Business, Azizi said that it is “totally unfair” that private developers are expected to compete with their government-backed peers.
“They have the land for free, and all the banks have open doors for them,” he said. “I admire them and respect them, but it wouldn’t be a fair game.
“I have to first calculate my land costs. I have to calculate my financing costs, and I have a lot of restrictions on me, and they don’t have that,” he added. “They should be focusing on the outskirts, on developing bigger things, better things, iconic projects.”
Additionally, Azizi said that he believes government-backed developers should focus on rental income, rather than sales.
“That’s stable income for them,” he added. “Me, as a developer, maybe I invest AED 3 or 4 billion into the market. I want my money to be rotating. I am in the business of buying land, selling properties, buying land, selling properties.
“That’s a concept that private developers…all came with in their mind, and all love this city so much that they’ll invest here again and again,” Azizi said. “They (private investors) should be given the opportunity to sell…government developers should focus on renting only. They can build as much as they want, but rent.”
Azizi said he believed that his concerns would be properly addressed by the Higher Committee of Real Estate, which was established in early September to achieve a balance between supply and demand.
“I’m happy, overall, that the committee is there, and I’m confident that they’ll take the right decision. They [the authorities] have always cared for the city. I trust in this city,” he said. “They will make the market into a more fair market. It was fair, but it has to become more fair.”
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