Dubai’s property sales deals hit 12-year high in July

The emirate registered 4,384 sales transactions worth Dh11.18bn last month, Property Finder says

Dubai Marina. There was considerable buyer interest in Dubai Marina apartments in July. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Property sales transactions in Dubai hit a 12-year high in July, driven by demand in the secondary market as the UAE economy continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The emirate last month registered 4,384 sales deals worth Dh11.18 billion, according to listings portal Property Finder.

Villas and town houses in Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, The Palm Jumeirah, Damac Hills and Mohammed bin Rashid City were the top areas for transactions, according to Property Finder’s demand data.

The most popular areas of interest for apartments included Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, The Palm, Business Bay and Jumeirah Village Circle.

This is the highest volume of monthly property transactions registered by the emirate, making it the best July on record in the past 12 years, despite the typically quieter summer months, Property Finder said on Wednesday.

“In previous years, we normally saw the summer months as a slower market due to holidays and people migrating. However, not this year, despite the fact that many are now starting to travel,” said Lynnette Sacchetto, director of research and data at Property Finder.

“We are still seeing impressive value and volume numbers [and] July attested to this.”

Dubai, a regional business and finance centre, recorded 31,757 sales transactions worth Dh73.15bn from the start of the year through to July 31, according to Property Finder estimates.

The value of property sales in the first seven months of 2021 exceeded the full-year level for 2020, which stood at 35,401 property sales worth Dh71.87bn.

As of July, the sales transaction value in 2021 was 1.78 per cent higher when compared with 2020, Ms Sacchetto said.

“The Dubai market is still and will continue to go in an upwards direction,” she said.

Last month, 59.4 per cent of all property transactions in Dubai were for secondary property, while off-plan property accounted for 40.6 per cent of the deals.

In terms of the volume of deals, the off-plan market sold 1,780 units valued at Dh3.44bn while the secondary or ready market sold 2,604 units worth Dh7.74bn.

The average transaction value increased “drastically” in July, with the overall value of deals at Dh2.5 million, up 10.14 per cent compared with June 2021, the property portal said.

Meanwhile, the average transaction value for secondary or ready property increased by 4.62 per cent to Dh2.9m while that for off-plan units rose by 33 per cent to Dh1.9m.

Sharp increase in Abu Dhabi property market

Meanwhile, a survey by real estate consultancy ValuStrat showed a sharp increase in Abu Dhabi's property market during the second quarter of 2021.

Capital values in the UAE capital's residential investment zones rose by 2.1 per cent during the second quarter, compared with the previous three-month period, according to the survey's findings.

This was the first time the company's valuation-based ValuStrat Price Index recorded three consecutive quarters of growth since 2016, the property consultancy said.

The capital values were 3.9 per cent higher year-on-year, recovering from the Covid-19 headwinds of 2020, it said.

The highest gains were for apartments on Al Reem Island and villas on Saadiyat Island and in Mohamed bin Zayed City.

Residential rental values, on the other hand, rose by 4.3 per cent in the second quarter, from the previous three months, but gained 4.5 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.

"This was the first positive citywide rental increase in five years," the company said on Wednesday.

The asking price for apartments in Abu Dhabi rose by 3 per cent a year and was up 4.9 per cent from the previous quarter. The asking rents for villa across the city grew by 6.2 per cent from the same period a year ago and by 3.6 per cent from the past quarter, as per ValuStrat's findings.

Al Bandar, Saadiyat Island and MBZ City showed notable increases in average asking rents.

A total of 855 apartments were completed in five projects in Abu Dhabi during the second quarter, mainly on Reem Island and at Al Raha Beach.

In 2021, the remaining expected supply for this year stands at 9,871 apartments and 961 villas, the report said. About 75 per cent of the coming handovers will be on Al Reem Island, Yas Island and at Al Raha Beach.

Abu Dhabi’s economy is expected to grow by 6 per cent to 8 per cent over the next two years, driven by the oil sector, government spending, financial services and foreign direct investment, Mohammed Al Shorafa, chairman of the emirate's Department of Economic Development, said earlier this year.