Trump Jr: Emerging markets ‘underserved’ in high-end

Property markets in the Middle East and India are underserved in terms of luxury real estate developments, according to Donald Trump Jr, son of real estate mogul Donald Trump. Trump Jr is reportedly raising $1bn to target high-end real estate projects in India, with an initial focus on Mumbai.

Emerging market cities such as Dubai and Mumbai may be fertile ground for high-end real estate projects, according to Donald Trump Jr, executive vice president of development and acquisitions for The Trump Organization.

Trump Jr, speaking in a podcast recorded at the Knowledge@Wharton Real Estate Forum on Emerging Markets held earlier this month, said the emerging markets continued to be “incredibly underserved” in the high-end segment of the property market, with a lack of product available in those areas.

The son of real estate tycoon Donald Trump is reportedly raising a $1 billion property fund to capitalise on India’s growing middle class, with plans to develop high-end, luxury projects. Trump Jr said at the time it would start off small but grow as the Trump Organization grew more familiar with the country. Mumbai would be his first point of entry into India, he said in July, and it would also consider buying land owing to the recent slowdown in the real estate market.

“There are many opportunities in those markets, certainly as [prices] come back down to rational levels,” Trump Jr said in the podcast.

He added that Dubai was another attractive market for high-end product: “You go there, you see the highest end of the product, you say, ‘This is Class C New York rental, if that.’ And it's the best of the best in that given market.”