Ronnie Biggs

Fast becoming a ghost town at my end of the development. The row of villas we live in are now all empty without exception and there looks to be loads of empty properties all over the place. The lack of communal facilities, the same communal facilities that were promised "within six months" when we moved in 15 months ago yet haven't even been started means that it's not the most appealing of compounds. They may struggle to re-fill the place even if the prices are going down....

Is there anywhere else in Abu Dhabi where this is happening?

commander

i lived in phase 1 of al raha gardens for a year (near the Al raha school). they promised us also 6 months for the town centre.

in reality we knew in 3 years in still wouldnt be done, so we upped sticks and left..

Ronnie Biggs

3 years is about right. I think they assumed people would stay there no matter what as they had no choice. Now that there is becoming more availability elsewhere they're paying for that decision. The total lack of facilities for a 1.6km stretch of people is ridiculous. No wonder 4 bed townhouses are down to 230k AED (still not exactly mind-blowingly cheap to be fair .)

tonyhenderson

If the prices are worth it people will drive to amenity I say.

After all i can't think of an abundance of villa compounds in abu dhabi with brilliant amenities unless you consider living under power lines and driving through taxi heaven to Sas Al a good thing.

Ronnie Biggs

True but at least Mangrove, Seashore, Sas Al Nakhl etc actually have some amenities - Al Raha Gdns is the biggest area of housing in Abu Dhabi and has absolutely nothing for the women and kids left at home. Not even a coffee shop or kids play area. Smacks of greed really - they would sooner cram a few more villas in.....

We're up for renewal soon and contemplating a move to Dubai to get much more for our money.

busybee2

We're up for renewal soon and contemplating a move to Dubai to get much more for our money.[/QUOTE]


and quite a few others

lanarkwitch

To be fair we decided to pay a bit more to live in Seashore because of the facilities and general handiness, as at least there are a few things in b2b and shangri la and the souk and all that. We looked at Raha which would have suited dh for work much better but we were a bit underwhemed when we looked at it and had actually decided we'd rather take a split villa b2b before raha, if we couldn't get back to Seashore.

commander

How much did you pay for seashores? (If you don't mind me asking) they asked us last year for a 3 bed-280K

lanarkwitch

there was an increase of 3.75% on those prices, to be honest i know we could have got somethign cheaper, but it was our choice to go there based on it being the most suitable place for us, and we enjoyed living there before

commander

Seashores is nice. Just couldn't justify (or should I say my company wouldn't) 280 for a pokey 3 bed. The family room upstairs is nice though.

There are lots of seashore/mangrove bashers on here...wait for it...its horrible having all those facilities and the view of musaffah is disgusting...I'd rather stay in a labour camp in KCA...

More room for my trampoline

Blue Cat

slight change

andrewpops

A friend works on the Al Raha Gardens project, he tells me that Phase 2 was handed over recently - only 30 of the 300 villas are occupied. He told me that Phase 3 will be handed over shortly - more vacant property carnage me thinks...

As this is a "nationals only" scheme, I suspect that a large majority will stay unoccupied until its bleeding obvious that they can't get 300k a year for them.

It's been happening in apartment blocks for a long time, just look around at the blocks not occupied down town. There is one opposite Al Mariah Mall that has not been occupied (at all) for at least two years.

busybee2

hahaha like it bc

bearfus

and quite a few others[/QUOTE]

We moved from AD to Dubai last summer... best decision we ever made... love it up here... We were sickened by the grasping greedy LLs and their piles of low build quality villas - after 15 months in an 'on the surface of it fab villa' and enduring countless problems with absolutely everything (a/c, electrics, water, leaking roof, cracking windows, sinking foundations) we upped and moved... can honestly say that where we are now is the exact opposite

busybee2

now that mangrove/sas/seashores are established, people will always move there when available, cant say the same for raha, the quality tells a lot