Dubai is a developing economy showcasing promising potential, thanks to its government’s visionary leadership. The past years have seen sustained investments in infrastructure as well as regulatory improvements. And for Atif Rahman, founder and chairman of ORO24 Developments, this solid foundation is essential for robust economic growth, and for the continuing success of Dubai’s freehold real estate market.
In this interview, Rahman shares his insights into today’s real estate industry, how it impacts the economy, and how his boutique company focuses on providing human life-centric assets.
How would you describe the current real estate market in Dubai? Are there any trends or shifts you are particularly excited about?
It’s important to embrace the fact that every economy must go through cycles. The real estate correction, debt default, and construction risk are natural outcomes for any real estate industry in a downturn. I personally feel that a global slowdown is imminent, and this is evident through the yield curve remaining inverse, the deflationary impact in China in addition to the contraction of major European countries, among others. It’s being warned by experts.
There will also be a capital movement for better opportunities, and Dubai definitely stands a good chance of taking advantage of these opportunities. The city has proven its strength and ability to bounce back from an economic crisis and a global crisis like a pandemic.
In your experience, what role does real estate play in boosting Dubai’s economy? Are there ways you see it shaping the city’s future growth?
If the real estate sector is booming, growth will also occur in the banking, retail, automobile, insurance, luxury, media, and marketing industries. Even businesses selling papers and bins will experience growth.
I also want to highlight that no economy can grow without the expansion of real estate. Industries, warehouses, schools, universities, hospitals, malls, and recycling units are all real estate — not just homes and offices.
With the government focused on transforming the city into the most liveable city, the population will continue to grow, thereby creating the need for more real estate across various sectors.
Could you share some insights into your strategy at ORO24 and what makes it stand out in Dubai’s real estate landscape?
There are three elements that help us make our real estate an attractive proposition: economies of scale, modular design, and value engineering. We also collaborate through strategic partnerships with specialized companies.
Through all of this, we imagine a human life thriving in our communities and we reflect that in our project design. I believe the real estate business is about understanding human needs and delivering those for your consumer with elements of lifestyle and price efficiency.
At ORO24, we are a boutique company that focuses on mid-segment quality assets. We also understand that we must provide cutting-edge advantages to our consumers to remain competitive in business.
I firmly believe that real estate is not sold; people buy real estate. And this practice helps us get the purchaser who really believes in our real estate. We also keep ourselves within our capacity limit so that we are able to do justice to every project.
What are some of the biggest challenges for developers in Dubai’s fast-paced market, and how is ORO24 positioning itself to stay competitive?
I am glad that you correlated challenges with the fast-paced growth, which people and media generally don’t do. I would divide them into two parts: one at the industry level, and the second is the inhabitant in the business.
The industry will continue to become complex and competitive, which will mean survival of the fittest. We must understand that standard growth can be planned for. However, you cannot do that for the exponential progress that the industry is experiencing at the current time. It comes with its own sets of challenges like cost inflation, supply chain risks, capacity burnout, delays, and more. Factoring the industry’s position today, it’s important for every developer to also expand the infrastructure with deeper insight into the global economy. It’s also important to revise contingency in duration and cost during planning to counter any unforeseen deviations.
The rule is simple at the individual business level: stay within the capacity, don’t get carried away, and choose discipline over greed. Property development is an attractively flamboyant, extremely multi-layered, and generally high-risk business that has exposures at every step.
Having done this business for well over two decades, the most important lessons I have learned are resilience and taking a scientific approach to every situation. In my belief, meticulous planning, expanding core competency, controlled leveraging, healthy cash flow, strong construction management, and focus on delivery are key for the industry.
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Looking ahead, what are your hopes for ORO24?
I want to build a truly long-lasting, forward-integrated, and tech-enabled business in the real estate industry. The industry has given me a lot, and I have collected a tremendous amount of experience, which I want to share with my people to help them transform their lives and those of other people.
The fun of building real estate is that you can never get bored. Every project comes with new opportunities to learn and execute. The commitment of my vision is to build a human-sensitive organization that delivers quality assets.
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