Investing / Analysis
Choose an investment area from evidence
Choosing an investment area requires a clear explanation of the intended use and evidence behind it. A list of popular neighbourhoods is not a substitute for that process.
THE ASTRA TERRA ARCHIVE
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Explore our reporting on Dubai property, commercial spaces and the decisions that shape the market.
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Markets / Analysis
Prime office space: define what quality means to your business
Prime is a marketing description unless the features behind it are defined. An office should earn its place on a shortlist through the way it serves the occupier.
Investing / Analysis
Retail beneath new homes: test the future catchment
Retail beneath a future residential community depends on more than the number of planned homes. A purchaser needs to understand how the intended business would reach and serve customers.
Markets / Analysis
An operator’s brief for four commercial locations
A location brief for an operator should connect the area to the work being done. Different requirements can lead to different premises even within the same budget.
Markets / Analysis
Retail leasing: check frontage, footfall and fit-out
A retail lease should be assessed from the customer's approach to the unit and the operator's work behind the counter. Both affect whether the premises are usable.
Investing / Analysis
Buying an office: the owner-occupier’s decision
Buying an office can serve a long-term operating plan, but ownership also commits capital and creates responsibilities. Compare it with renting under the same business assumptions.
Investing / Analysis
Read quarterly sales totals with the right definitions
A quarterly sales total describes a defined set of recorded transactions. Its usefulness depends on understanding that definition before drawing a conclusion about a property.
Investing / Analysis
Build a shortlist you can explain
A defensible shortlist makes its reasoning visible. Each candidate should answer the same brief, with important differences and uncertainties recorded.
Markets / Analysis
Plan office space around the next stage of growth
Office space should support the next stage of a business without depending on a single optimistic growth forecast. Layout flexibility and contract obligations need to be considered together.
Investing / Analysis
Before reserving off-plan, test price and delivery
An off-plan reservation is a commitment to specified obligations and an expected future product. Investigate both before allowing a marketing deadline to drive the decision.
Investing / Analysis
Check the data behind an area comparison
Area comparisons can look precise while using inconsistent information. Before relying on a table or guide, check what each entry measures and when it was recorded.
Investing / Analysis
Turn area research into a project brief
Area research becomes useful when it produces a specific project brief. Broad preferences need to be translated into features that can be checked.
Investing / Analysis
Compare offices and community retail without mixing assumptions
An office and a community shop can suit different investment objectives. Comparing them requires separate operating assumptions before any headline yield is considered.
Markets / Analysis
Flexible offices need clear lease terms
A flexible office layout and a flexible lease are different things. Both should be tested against the business's likely changes.
Investing / Analysis
Underwrite a shop’s rental income carefully
A shop's proposed rent needs to be examined alongside the costs of ownership and the tenant's ability to use the premises. An advertised yield is not an operating account.
Investing / Analysis
Area selection is part of off-plan due diligence
Area selection is part of off-plan due diligence because the future premises will operate within a wider location. It should be assessed alongside the project and unit, not instead of them.
Investing / Analysis
Transaction momentum and ownership costs are different measures
Busy transaction activity and manageable ownership costs are separate questions. A purchaser needs to investigate both without treating one as evidence of the other.
Investing / Analysis
An office launch needs a credible occupier case
An office launch requires a credible explanation of who will use the space and why. A new building or premium description alone does not establish future leasing demand.