Deyaar: a listed developer that also manages what it builds

Deyaar has two features that rarely appear together in this market: it is listed on the Dubai Financial Market, and it manages a large part of the property it has built. Both are worth more than they look.

Listed, and old enough to have a record

Founded in the early 2000s with Dubai Islamic Bank as a major shareholder, and listed since 2007. That means published quarterly accounts, an audit, and — importantly — a public record through the 2008–2009 collapse and the years after it.

For a buyer choosing between a well-marketed newcomer and a company whose behaviour in a downturn is documented, the second is the more informative choice, even when the renders are less exciting.

The management arm

Deyaar operates one of the larger property management businesses in Dubai, running owners' associations, maintenance and leasing across its own buildings and others'.

• Continuity after handover. The developer does not disappear at completion; the same group remains in the building.
• It sets a check you can make. Walk into a Deyaar building delivered five or eight years ago and look at the lifts, the corridors, the parking and the pool. That is the honest forecast for the building you are buying.
• The related-party question. When the developer also manages the building, the service charge is set within one group. Ask for the budget breakdown and compare per square foot against comparable buildings run by third parties.

What it builds

Apartments and offices in Business Bay, Al Barsha, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Jumeirah Village Circle and the central business districts. Mid and upper-mid segment, no branded-residence theatre, and a portfolio that includes commercial space — which is not true of most residential developers here.

What to check

• An older delivered building, as above — the single most informative hour you can spend.
• The service charge budget and its trend over recent years.
• Published accounts, since with this developer you actually have them.
• Escrow and Oqood for off-plan.
• For commercial units, the fit-out obligation — office space is delivered shell-and-core far more often than buyers expect.

Who it suits

• A buyer who prioritises verifiable stability over launch-day discounts.
• Anyone who wants a maintained building in ten years' time, since that is the part of ownership nobody markets.
• Buyers of small commercial space, an area most residential developers do not serve.

Based on Deyaar's published reporting and the Dubai Land Department register.