The government-owned property developer Nakheel has not increased prices of its properties this year but has been selling at a price of last year, according to Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah.

“We are selling at the same price of 2013 and we are not adding to any increase. But to avoid speculators, we have increased our down payment term to 50 percent,” Lootah told a press conference on Sunday.

The company posted a 27.2 percent rise in full-year profit. Nakheel made a net profit of AED2.57 billion ($700 million) in 2013, up from AED2.02 billion in 2012. Lootah added that revenues jumped 20 percent to AED9.4 billion compared to AED7.8 billion in 2012.

Lootah also revealed that the company will be launching new projects worth AED6 billion to AED8 billion, the number likely to be more than 2013.

On Jan. 5, Nakheel said it planned to prepay in 2014 more than half of its bank debt of AED6.8 billion, due for repayment in September 2015. The company will pay AED2.35 billion in Q1, 2014, and plans an additional prepayment of approximately AED1.65 billion in Q3, 2014.

The company also says that a robust financial performance that has significantly exceeded its revised business plan, has led to improvements of approximately AED22 billion to date over the plan period.

At the time of restructuring, in August 2011, Nakheel had a total bank debt of AED7.9 billion, due for repayment in 2015, 2016 and 2018. The early repayments of AED4 billion in 2014 — a major milestone in the company’s history — reflect the strength of the local real estate market, significantly improved economic conditions in the UAE and the growing trust and confidence among investors in Dubai and Nakheel.

Over the past 28 months, since the successful completion of the financial restructuring, Nakheel has continued its focus on delivering the revised business plan and creating a long term sustainable business. During this period, both revenues and net profits doubled from FY11. Not only has the company returned to profitability, it has witnessed an almost threefold increase in cash flows generated in FY13 compared to FY11.

In addition, with the objective of increasing its portfolio of cash-generating assets, Nakheel has several retail and leasing units under construction which, when complete, will more than double the existing net retail leasable area from 2.5 million square feet to about 5.6 million sq ft.

The number of leasing units is also set to increase from the current 16,500 to about 17,000 when completed. In addition, the company is developing four hotels with a combined total of 1,200 rooms that will progressively come on stream this year, with more under evaluation.

The developer had also announced the sale of a range of mixed-use plots at Jumeirah Village Circle last week.