Saadiyat Island gears up for affordable homes

Visitors look at scale models at the Tourism Development and Investment Company pavilion during Cityscape Abu Dhabi.

More than 800 affordable housing units for middle-income earners will be built on Saadiyat Island, it was announced on Tuesday at Cityscape Abu Dhabi.

The Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday announced the launch of a premier selection of residential units across three projects on Saadiyat Island under a new flexible payment schedule.

They will include the Mamsha Al Saadiyat, a Dh1.2 billion apartments project in the Saadiyat Cultural District, and home to the single largest collection of cultural assets including Zayed National Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Manarat Al Saadiyat.

The second project is the Jawaher Saadiyat golf course facing villas, comprising 83 units and is estimated to cost Dh370 million.

The Saadiyat Lagoons townhouses is the third project and comprises 823 affordable housing units of one-bedroom to three-bedroom apartments.

"Construction on two projects - Mamsha Al Saadiyat and Jawaher Saadiyat - has already started with 30 and 22 per cent completion respectively," said Sufain Al Mazrooqi, CEO of TDIC.

He said the two projects would be completed by the end of 2018.

"Construction work on the affordable housing units and the mid-market project will begin soon and is expected to be completed by 2019."

He said the market trends have changed and demand lies for affordable houses.

"We thought about constructing affordable houses two years ago so that we can meet market demand. We believe the town-house apartments that will be located a few metres from New York University will benefit many middle-income workers, including teachers, doctors and others," said Al Mazrooqi.

He said the apartments for the mid-market project will be on sale at between Dh2.5 million and Dh3 million.

The developer noted that potential investors and end-users can take advantage of a flexible payment plan which allows buyers to secure their unit with a deposit of 2.5 per cent of the sales price.

- ismail@khaleejtimes.com