Property prices across Dubai continued to rise in March, driven by an increase in investor demand, CBRE says. The total volume of transactions reached 7,865 last month — an increase of 83.4 per cent compared to a year earlier, while <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2021/08/17/quadrupling-off-plan-sales-boost-dubais-property-deals-efg-hermes-says/" target="_blank">off-plan sales</a> were up 94.6 per cent and secondary market sales up 76.1 per cent. Total transaction volumes in the first three months reached 19,009. Average residential <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/property/" target="_blank">property</a> prices rose by 11.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year, CBRE said in its market snapshot. Average apartment prices were up by 10 per cent and villa prices by 20.2 per cent. Click through the slideshow above to see where apartment prices have risen and fallen. In the apartment sector, Green Community saw the biggest month-on-month increase in sales prices in March at 4.9 per cent. It was followed by Dubai Sports City (4.5 per cent increase), Jebel Ali (4.2 per cent), Remraam (4 per cent) and Business Bay (3.9 per cent). <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/2022/04/14/dubai-man-aims-to-trade-up-from-dh1-coin-to-a-palm-jumeirah-villa/" target="_blank">Palm Jumeirah</a> was up 3 per cent, as was Downtown Dubai, which is the most expensive area for apartments in the city by square foot. In the villa segment, prices on Palm Jumeirah rose the most at 4.8 per cent, along with Jumeirah, on a monthly basis in March. District One and <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/luxury/inside-an-dh8-5-million-jumeirah-islands-villa-in-dubai-in-pictures-1.776731" target="_blank">Jumeirah Islands</a> also had notable price increases of 3.8 per cent. See the apartment price rises and falls in the slideshow below. The UAE property market has been rebounding on the back of government initiatives, such as <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/property/dubai-s-new-retirement-visa-to-boost-local-economy-and-property-market-1.1072438">residency permits for retirees</a> and <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/dubai-jobs-and-visas-meet-the-remote-workers-who-escaped-a-world-in-lockdown-1.1226889">remote workers</a>, as well as the expansion of the 10-year <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/2022/03/03/why-the-market-for-golden-passports-and-visas-is-booming/">golden visa</a> programme and the economic boost from Expo 2020 Dubai. The market has also benefited from the country's widespread coronavirus vaccination programme, which has kept cases relatively low. “Despite the continued increase in the cost of financing and further tightening of payment plans, we have yet to see this impact transactional activity in Dubai’s residential market," said Taimur Khan, Mena head of Research at CBRE. "In fact, the total number of transactions in March reached 7,865, up from 5,598 a month earlier. As a result, this has been the strongest first quarter on record for Dubai in terms of residential transactions. "While average prices and average rents continue to increase, we are seeing a moderation in both sales and rental growth rates in the villa segment of the market.” The UAE economy <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/2022/04/05/uae-non-oil-economy-grows-78-in-q4-as-pandemic-curbs-ease/" target="_blank">is expected to grow 4.9 per cent</a> in 2022, Japan's largest lender MUFG Bank said, while Emirates NBD forecasts growth of 5.7 per cent and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank estimates a 5 per cent expansion. Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings said last month that property prices and rents in Dubai's <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/property/2022/03/14/dubais-ready-home-sales-rise-sharply-to-23bn-in-february/">residential market</a> will continue to increase in 2022, in line with the trend seen in 2021. Properties are also "relatively affordable", with prices 25 to 30 per cent below 2014 levels, despite a significant rise in 2021, the agency said. __________________________