ELRE
New luxury real estate developments
Off-plan or in pre-launch you are buying a project, not a house: what to check before signing, market by market.
New luxury real estate developments: buying a project, not a house
With new luxury real estate developments you sign before the house exists: off-plan or in the pre-launch phase, with payments tied to construction progress and delivery set in the contract. The advantage is choosing among the best units and spreading payment over time; the price is that you are judging a project, not a building.
This page explains how we read new luxury real estate developments in the markets we follow — Italy, the Dominican Republic, Zanzibar and Dubai: what to check before signing, what to ask the developer and how we present yields and commercial relationships.
All properties
The properties on the map
Villas for sale
Selected villas
New developments
Off-plan and pre-launch
The method
How we read a project
Zanzibar
Areas, data and sources
Dominican Republic
Cap Cana, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo
Contact
Bring a project to the table
What changes compared with a finished house
A finished house can be visited: you see the light at different hours, hear the noise of the road, open a technical cupboard. A new development is read from drawings, renderings and specifications. The rendering shows the atmosphere the developer wants to sell; the specification says what will really be built, with which materials, systems and finishes.
That is why, with new luxury real estate developments, the decisive question is not how beautiful the house will be, but how precisely the contract describes it: areas calculated in a declared way, brands and models or equivalence criteria, tolerances on timing, what happens if the project changes during construction.
The risks to check before signing
- Timing: delivery date, penalties for delay, withdrawal conditions if construction stops.
- Capital paid: where the deposits go and with what guarantees. In Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 requires escrow accounts for off-plan project payments; in other markets protection depends on the contract and must be requested in writing.
- Title and permits: ownership of the land, building permits, any concession regime (in Zanzibar foreigners buy leaseholds of up to 99 years through approved projects).
- Specifications: differences between renderings and specifications, substitutable materials, systems included and excluded.
- After delivery: condominium or management fees, rental programmes, maintenance costs in the local climate.
- Resale before completion: whether and on what terms the contract can be assigned to a third party.
The architectural assessment of a new development
We apply to new luxury real estate developments the same architectural assessment method we use for existing villas. We read the floor plan before the rendering: orientation of the main rooms, privacy between neighbouring units, position of the building services, the relationship between terraces and sun, what will really be seen from the windows once the neighbouring plots are built.
Then the specification, item by item: windows, insulation, systems, stone and wood, protection from salt air in seaside locations. The result is a written reading of what the project shows, what remains to be asked and whom to ask, distinguishing what is documented from what is only declared by the developer.
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The markets we follow
Italy
In Italy, high-end new developments come in small numbers: a few villas or residences on plots with a view, on Lake Garda and in the Veneto hills. The studio of Federico Cappellina knows these projects from the inside, because it designs them and directs their construction, like the Lugana Bay residences on Lake Garda: that is where the criterion we use to read other people’s projects comes from.
Dominican Republic
Cap Cana, Punta Cana and Santo Domingo concentrate most of the new luxury real estate developments of the Dominican Caribbean, often with hotel management. They are followed by Luca Lodi, in the country since 2010; yield and tax data are on the Dominican Republic page, with their sources.
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Zanzibar
On the coast of Zanzibar new projects are almost always off-plan and leasehold. Prices, yields declared by the sources and rules for foreigners are gathered, with their sources, in the Zanzibar guide.
Dubai
Dubai is the market with the most off-plan projects and the best public data: the Dubai Land Department publishes registered transactions as open data, area by area. It is the first comparison we make with the price proposed by a developer. The Dubai market is followed by Tatiana Juma.
Yields and capital growth: how we present them
No one can guarantee the capital growth of a property not yet built, and we do not promise it. When a yield appears on our pages it carries the name of its source and the date, and is stated as gross or net; when a figure comes from the developer we say so next to the figure. A percentage without a source does not enter the assessment.
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Commercial relationships, declared first
On some new luxury real estate developments presented on the site, the organisation may receive a commission from the developer or from whoever handles the sale. We declare this before any analysis and, in that case, the reading is not presented as independent; anyone who wants an independent opinion can request it as a separate engagement, as explained in the method.
Frequently asked questions about new developments
What is the main risk of buying off-plan?
Delay or non-completion. It is reduced with written guarantees on the capital paid, penalties for delay and a check of the projects the developer has already delivered.
How long is it between signing and delivery?
It depends on the project: the binding date is the one in the contract, with its penalties. Ask how the delivery date of the same developer’s previous projects changed.
Can you resell before completion?
In some markets the contract can be assigned to a third party; conditions and costs are written in the contract and vary from developer to developer.
Do you also assess developments that are not on the site?
Yes: send us the dossier, the specification and the payment plan and we will reply with the points to check.
Bring a new development to the table
Send brochures, floor plans, specifications and the payment plan: we reply with a first reading and the questions to ask before signing.
Are you considering an off-plan project?
Send the dossier and specification: we reply with the points to check.
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New developments read with the architectural assessment method, market by market.