About 800 homes in a Dubai residential development sold out within hours, indicating continued strength in the emirate’s property market and generating US$844 million for the firms backing the project. 

The joint venture between Dubai Holding and Aldar Properties PJSC, Abu Dhabi’s biggest developer, sold out two phases in the “Haven” project on launch day, according to a statement on Wednesday. The firms sold 786 single-family homes and townhouses, with prices starting at 2.5 million dirhams ($680,648).  

The companies had initially planned to make 468 homes available for sale, but added 318 additional properties — set to be sold at a later stage — due to “remarkable demand.” Construction of the first phase of the development is due to begin in in the second quarter of 2024 with handovers expected three years later. 

High demand for the project is an early indicator that conflict in the wider region hasn’t yet impacted sentiment. Dubai’s property market has broken a decade-long record for total home sales and seen rents jump to unprecedented levels. Average residential prices climbed 19.6 per cent in the year through September, CBRE Group Inc. said in a report last month, while rents surged 20.6 per cent.

That rebound from a seven-year slump has been fueled by an influx of newcomers relocating from Asia, to wealthy Russians seeking to shield assets. The government has also relaxed visa laws and introduced visas for job seekers and freelancers. 

Earlier this year, hundreds of buyers queued up to snap up luxury homes on the largest of Dubai’s palm-shaped islands where villas are going for 10 times the price of when the project was launched — but never built — two decades ago.

Aldar and Dubai Holding said expatriate residents and foreign buyers accounted for 77 per cent of sales in the project while citizens of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai and Abu Dhabi are two of seven sheikhdoms, bought the remaining 23 per cent. 

The third and final phase of the project, which also includes apartments, will be put up for sale early in 2024. 

Haven is the first of three new residential communities set to be developed in Dubai by Aldar and Dubai Holding. The project will feature amenities including a central park, pools and play areas along with a community center built in the shape of a tree house.