6 mins to read,
April 15th, 2020
- Director & Partner at Danube Properties
Watch this recording of our Webinar from 14 April 2020 to get the latest market data insights from Property Finder.
Mr. Atif Rahman comes with 18 pioneering Years’ of experience in successful Real Estate Development across Residential, Commercial and Hotel & Serviced Apartment sectors. In a very short span of time, the company has left behind some established competitors to be ranked amongst the top five property developers of Dubai.
In recognition of his leadership skills and abilities, various awards have been conferred upon him and Danube Properties, such as ranked 11 amongst Top 100 Indian Business Leaders By Forbes Middle East in 2019.
What are you focusing on during this time of Crisis?
We are focusing on strengthening ourselves, you know, that’s a great time to re-format a business re-think our strategies and strengthen our business. I firmly believe there are two key things for any business to focus on right now is how to limit the damage. Because we’ve encountered the crisis now, there’s no denying, and it’s worldwide, everyone is sailing in the same boat. So if you try to limit the damage and evolve ways and methods of how we can keep moving forward. I think these two are key for the business. So that’s that’s what we’re focusing on while we are also strengthening ourselves as a business.
What are the key things that you’ve had to do to adapt during that time?
We had implemented right from the beginning when we could see that virus was spreading across the globe. We decided to implement strict hygiene policy within the office when we were operating from the office and we had put in a lot of measures to make sure our employees and customers and everyone who was walking into her office remain protected.
No one was affected and then we were planning to go off-site while we were operating from the office, because I could see things are not going to improve that quickly and I had some real-time data from our employees in China, and we kind of had an idea of how things will progress once it was spreading across the globe. So we started planning our off-site operations, we’re in the fourth week now, we were one of the first officers to go off-site so we ready now. Well before the long-term was announced so everyone was pretty much settling in their home and operating from there. I think one of the key things for me is that we don’t want to lay off any of our employees and as much as possible. I do not want to have any kind of salary cut because it impacts human life.
I think it has delivered an unimaginable level of motivation and commitment from all the stuff the way they have been operating. Let me share some data with you, we’ve been talking about the market slowing down and Market being sluggish, how about us selling even through this period it’s unbelievable, isn’t it? We sold yesterday, the day before, last week since we have been working off-site and our collections have also improved. So I think overall it has created we’ve accepted the reality that is one of the most important things in crisis to quickly accept the reality. Yes. It is what it is and then and see how we can adapt and I’ve always maintained for any business to be successful. One of the key things is spontaneity in decision-making.
With regards to consumers who’ve already purchased off-plan properties, what actions are being taken to help those customers with payments in the current months?
Look at it this way. Do I want to give them another bad news? Companies suffering or project is suffering? We all hope that this crisis will get over at some point in time and we want great news, we want good news right now, you know, and I think we’re not a bank. I’ve maintained this. We already provided an excellent payment plan for all the customers and there’s no way we can leverage on that because if I liberate on that and jeopardizing the completion of the project which is detrimental for the business for the customers for all of us, so I think one key we need to do as a business is look after the customers and the project they have invested in ensuring that we are able to deliver with the best quality possible and at the quickest time possible. I can give to my customers by ensuring that the projects are completed and I see some great news coming this year because we have another three projects will be delivered this year, which is close to 1.2 Billion AED. I’m very confident customers are going to love it because we have done some phenomenal upgrades and all these projects and will remain focused on the delivery of the project. That is the most important thing.
So you’re clearly focusing on the future and what’s going to come after the crisis, you’re not just reacting to what’s happening now, how do you see the market shaping in? And how is it going to be a change of focus for Danube?
I always believed what we in the finest real estate industry if you compare it worldwide. Dubai is one of the best because the kind of regulatory framework that exists in Dubai I think is not available anywhere else in the world. The kind of digital advancement that Dubai real estate industry has made, it is unbelievable, it’s unparalleled if you compare it anywhere in the world, you know. What it does is it creates a kind of immunity for the investors because the funds are locked in an escrow account. It is used for the construction of the project. And if you look at the infrastructure, it is one of the finest compared to the world the government keeps adding more capitalist more attractions to revive and keep advancing the real estate industry. So overall it’s one of the best if you compare it globally now in this situation. I think it becomes a very profitable time for investors to come in and buy into real estate in the by because you’re buying at the rock-bottom prices and the only way the graph can move is upwards and when you look at the current opportunities that are available in the real estate market, it’s phenomenal, it’s amazing. Imagine we’re in a lockdown and we’re having 20%-30% decrease in enquiries. So that means 70% still there and that is amazing that is phenomenal. If you look at the Dubai real estate industry, it is one of the finest and with every passing day every passing month, I am very very confident that it will continue to cement its place as the number one real estate market across the globe.
With the data suggesting that consumers are now looking at villas where they previously identified apartments as a potential next move, what impact do you see that having on future releases of properties into the market from the off-plan side of the UAE market?
I’m of the opinion we should never react to the data in an impulsive manner. It could be a temporary trend that we are experiencing and I think there is no way you can totally take away the demand for apartments, that is the largest segment of the real estate industry anywhere in the world. Yes, it’s a trend that we would see temporarily because there would be a class of or section of people who could afford higher price apartments and now they can see that the villa prices have softened, so they would migrate from buying an apartment to buying a villa, which is obviously a better purchase for them so that it could be a temporary trend we’re experiencing but not something that is going to define the future movement of the market for sure.
With the global impact of Covid-19 and the restrictions around travel internationally, what impact has that had on construction in terms of import of supplies?
I was checking the data yesterday with my Procurement Department. The container prices have gone up to $2,400 dollars…That is the first thing I noticed. Yes, there has been an impact and especially because of the factories that were there that were affected in China now, we see that trend from Europe and also from India.
I think now they will be impacted is no denying. We as a company we always try to be ready in advance, we keep a buffer period for every project supply. This has helped us greatly in this current situation, the supplies are effective and we trying to mitigate that delay and then see how we can adjust to the site requirements. The site takes the precedence because that’s our factory, that’s where we are building. So we need to adjust and then see how we can best deliver these materials, but it is definitely affected right now.
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