Trump Scottish golf homes find some buyers even before approval

[LONDON] Homes earmarked for Donald Trump's golf resort in northeastern Scotland are already attracting interest from property buyers, even before plans to construct them have been approved.

A number of large properties have been reserved and there have been expressions of interest in many others, according to a filing on behalf of Trump International Golf Links Scotland.

The US president's real estate company said in July that it plans to spend about 150 million pounds (S$270 million) building homes, vacation cottages and sports facilities adjacent to the golf resort Trump owns near Aberdeen. As many as 500 homes could be built at the links course if the application is approved.

"It is rare for a development to attract such interest prior to the submission of a planning application," said the filing by law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP to Aberdeenshire Council, which will decide if the project goes ahead. The documents were made available to the public by the council this week.

The project is expected to create the equivalent of 2,000 full-time construction jobs within sheltered parts of the 1,500-acre (607-hectare) resort, which is about 10 miles north of Aberdeen.

"If the rest of Aberdeenshire could match, and build upon, the world-class benchmark set by The Trump Estate, then the region would benefit from several thousand additional tourism jobs," according to a separate filing made on behalf of the developer by a consulting firm.

Trump's Scottish golf investments aren't making money, based on the latest filings. Losses at Trump Turnberry in western Scotland more than doubled to 17.6 million pounds in 2016, while the shortfall at the Aberdeenshire course reached 1.4 million pounds.

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