It is a Saturday afternoon, but Danube Properties’ headquarters in Dubai is packed. Following the developer’s recent launch of its Wavez project, a mixed-use development in Liwan – which includes 412 apartments – potential investors have been streaming in.
Overseeing the bustling action is Atif Rahman, director and partner of the company. Despite being in the office until 3am that morning to tackle a sudden crisis, Rahman is back in business in the early afternoon to a stacked agenda.
Looking dapper and brisk, Rahman admits that one of the aspects he enjoys the most about his high-pressure job is handling the challenges that come along. The second aspect, he reveals, is seeking out the opportunities that exist in the market.
Arguably, he has done a stellar job in finding those opportunities.
Danube Properties was launched by him in 2014 as an arm of the wider Danube Group, an established player in the UAE’s building materials industry. Targeting the untapped affordable housing market, the company rapidly grew its portfolio to reach 14 projects with more than 5,500 units – of which some are completed, and the remaining are currently in various stages of completion. The six completed projects alone have a total value of over Dhs1.6bn. In 2018, Danube Properties sold more than 1,860 units for Dhs978m, capturing 10.60 per cent of the market share by volume.
It’s all about offering the “right product at the right price” says Rahman.
“For us, planning a project alone can take anything from two-three months to one year. Unless it is well-planned, well-designed and every element of the project has reached a level of perfection, I don’t launch the project,” he explains.
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