Dubai housing sector posts 7-year high monthly deals

The Dubai residential sector recorded 3,814 transactions worth Dh7.43 billion in February 2021. The month also recorded the highest number of secondary/ready properties transacted in a single month since March 2014, according to Data Finder.

Transactions in February were15.6 per cent more than the previous month in terms of volume and 10.2 per cent more in terms of value. This brings the year-to-date total to 7,109 transactions worth Dh14.16 billion, according to the data platform under the Property Finder group.

“During the pandemic it was very clear in the search and demand data, which we analyse daily, that consumers wanted to move into a property now and not wait for construction to be completed on an off-plan property. This trend was very apparent with end users who were looking to either purchase their first home in Dubai or upgrade to a larger property with more internal and external space ” says Lynnette Abad, director of Research & Data at Data Finder.

In H2 2020, volume of transactions in secondary/ready properties was higher versus off-plan properties. This trend also continued into 2021 and the confidence in the ready market continued to grow as February 2021 now holds the record for most secondary/ready properties in a single month over the past seven years, surpassing January’s numbers, Data Finder said.

According to Asteco’s Q4 2020 UAE Real Estate Report, the real estate sector has shown an unexpected level of resilience in the face of serious challenges created by the pandemic. However, the supply-demand imbalance is likely to worsen over the course of 2021, similar to last year. In Dubai, 41,500 new residential units and 1.5 million sqft of office space are expected for handover in 2021, a figure that could possibly increase if currently stalled/on hold projects resume activity.

In February, 68 per cent of all transactions were for secondary/ready properties and 32 per cent were for off-plan properties. “When we look at the volume of transactions, the off-plan market transacted 1,163 properties worth a total of Dh1.61 billion and the secondary market transacted 2,650 properties worth a total of Dh5.82 billion. Comparing this to January 2021, the number of off-plan transactions in February increased by 35.8 per cent and the secondary/ready property transactions increased by 8.2 per cent,” said the report by Data Finder.

“Since restrictions have eased and as we moved into a new year, we started to see developers launch new phases to existing projects which are under construction. These new launches, especially in the villa/townhouse segment, proved to be very popular with investors over the last few months,” Abad said.

In the villas/townhouses sector, 10.3 per cent of all sales in February 2021 took place in Nad Al Sheba, followed by Dubai Hills Estate (8.3 per cent), Green Community (8.0 per cent), Arabian Ranches (4.7 per cent) and Dubailand (4.0 per cent). Looking at apartments, 14.9 per cent of all sales transactions took place in Business Bay followed by Dubai Marina(9.0 per cent), Jumeirah Village Circle (8.0 per cent), Downtown Dubai (6.5 per cent) and Palm Jumeirah (6.2 per cent).

The top areas of interest in terms of searches for villas/townhouses in February 2021 were Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohamed bin Rashid City and Damac Hills. As for apartments for the same period, the top areas of interest were Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay and Jumeirah Village Circle, according to proprietary Property finder demand data.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com