Dubai: Danube Group’s property arm has struck a mortgage financing deal with Bank of Baroda, the latter thus becoming the first Indian bank to do in the local property market. The arrangement is strictly for the properties forming Danube’s “Dreamz” project, which are now being readied for handover.
“It was our first launch and we didn’t have the 1 per cent monthly instalment offer that we had for subsequent launches,” said Rizwan Sajan, Chairman of Danube. “Under the BoB arrangement, buyers in Dreamz will be able to access financing at 3.5 per cent on a reducing balance.
“We could have further mortgage tie-ins for future projects. But since we have the 1 per cent monthly instalment initiative offered directly to buyers, any arrangement with a lending bank will involve us and not the property owner.” (The Danube offer allows a buyer to pay 75 per cent of the property value over a 75-month period at 1 per cent.) With a slew of projects launched in 2013-14 nearing completion, mortgage lending activity in Dubai could be in for a major boost in 2017. And further signal heightened end-user activity in the middle and upper-middle residential category.
