It's raining freebies at DSF! But, where are the free homes?

People take their chance to win Aston Martin during DSF at The Dubai Mall on Thursday January 31, 2013.

The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) rains bonanzas on shoppers every year. Freebies come in the form of gold coins, mega shopping discounts, raffle draws with luxury cars up for grabs, makeover sessions, holidays to exotic destinations, etc. Retailers in Dubai are ingenious in creating compelling offers every year to woo shoppers to loosen their purse strings.
However, despite being the regional property hub, Dubai is yet to see any schemes launched by developers during DSF that offer an apartment or villa in the city as a prize for high-spending shoppers.
Although developers in the city are renowned for launching gimmicks to attract buyers during official sales launches, none have taken the initiative during DSF to go the extra mile. The only exception that comes to mind is premium developer Damac Properties which has announced giveaways of luxury cars like Lamborghinis and BMWs this year to buyers who commit 20 per cent of a unit's sales price during the month-long promotion.
In the past years, Damac had offered Aston Martins, Mercedes Benz cars, private planes and luxury yachts to buyers.
"Damac is committed to supporting the Dubai Shopping Festival and its various promotional activities which attract millions of tourists each year to Dubai and help position the emirate as an exciting, vibrant city to visit, shop and enjoy," says Niall McLoughlin, senior vice-president of Damac Properties.
Developers will have to join hands with retailers if this marketing strategy has to kick off. After all, the prospect of winning an apartment in Dubai is sure to lure high-spending tourists and local residents to retail outlets alike.
"It is certainly possible to attract higher value purchasers by offering properties as a raffle draw. This, however, is not the typical target market for developers, especially during the current environment and the current average income dynamic of the typical tourist. Probably this is why such a marketing strategy has not been adopted yet," says Hussain Alladin, head of research at GCP Properties.
Echoing the same sentiment, Erik Volkers, associate director of research and consultancy at CBRE Middle East, says: "Offering properties as prize money may not bring more high-spending tourists during DSF. Even though, this is a good marketing initiative, tourists may only be aware of such prizes once already in Dubai. The correlation between a high-spending tourist potentially wanting to buy/own property in Dubai and the DSF is quite low."
Dubai is also seeing a shift in demand from luxury properties to more mid-income housing. Hence, developers may not see the benefit in offering a complimentary home to a high-spending tourist whose stint in the UAE is short-lived.
"Given that Dubai is currently undergoing a structural shift in the housing market towards an end-user oriented dynamic, and that DSF is largely catered to tourists who typically stay for a week, incentivising purchasers during DSF has been something that most developers have chosen not to adopt as a marketing strategy," Alladin adds.
Nevertheless, it is a segment that developers must look to tap as the strategy has the potential to attract more tourists to Dubai who will spend more and support the economy further.
deepthi@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Dubai

Deepthi Nair

deepthi@khaleejtimes.com