Rising Dubai property sales boost Emaar's H1 profits

Dubai developer Emaar Properties on Monday announced 15 percent profit growth to $772 million in the first half of 2017, with property sales in the emirate up 22 percent.

Property sales in Dubai reached 10.814 billion dirhams ($2.94 billion, 2.5 billion euros) in the first six months, up 22 percent on January to June last year.

Revenues of the realty and construction group, which built the world's tallest tower Burj Khalifa in Dubai, rose 8 percent to 7.86 billion dirhams ($2.14 billion, 1.81 billion euros). 

Net profit was up 14 percent to 1.45 billion dirhams ($396 million, 335.6 million euros) in Q2, compared with the same period last year. 

Emaar has expanded into retail, hospitality and leisure across the region, with international development now constituting 22 percent of the group's overall revenue.

Emaar is also behind a real estate project that will reportedly exceed the height of Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres (2,716 feet) tall.

Details of the new project have not yet been made public.

Emaar Malls, the group's retail branch, in March lost a bid to acquire Middle East online retailer Souq.com to Amazon.