Dubai property nets Dh162 billion in first 9 months of 2018

The decline in the value of real estate transactions in 2018 is primarily on account of the decline in off-plan sales this year.

Dubai's real estate market recorded 39,802 real estate transactions worth Dh162 billion from the beginning of 2018 till the end of September, according to a report released by the Dubai Land Department (DLD). This compares to Dh204 billion worth of real estate transactions achieved in the first nine months of 2017, done through 52,170 transactions.

Real estate transactions in Dubai totalled Dh111 billion in the first six months of 2018 and Dh285 billion for the whole of 2017.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director-general of DLD, said: "These positive repercussions will continue to resonate in the short and long term."

According to the report, the first nine months of 2018 recorded 25,473 sales transactions worth more than Dh56.6 billion, about 11,000 mortgage transactions worth over Dh86 billion and 3,486 other transactions valued at Dh19.3 billion.

The decline in the value of real estate transactions is primarily on account of the decline in off-plan sales in 2018.

"Off-plan sales which accounted for nearly 70 per cent of all transactions in 2017 are down by approximately 40 per cent on a year-to-date basis. There are a plethora of reasons for this, not the least of them being the fact that incentives in the off-plan space appear to have 'maxed out' and developers have been matching incentives in the ready space," said Hussain Alladin, head of IR and research at Global Capital Partners.

"Consequently in the ready space, we expect transactional activity to end up higher than last year. This is a healthy phenomena as the market volume starts to correct towards the secondary market. However, it is unlikely that off-plan transactions will catch up in the last quarter of the year," added Alladin.
"Last year, there was a huge amount of off-plan launches. Around 66,000 units in total were introduced to the market with a range of attractive offers and floorplans. This year, the developers have understandably [as you can't keep putting out so many units and special offers] greatly reduced their offerings, with only around 15,000 units launched to the market. So, naturally there are fewer sales happening. We've already sold more secondary market units than last year," explained Lewis Allsopp, CEO, Allsopp & Allsopp.

The breadown
During the first nine months of the year, Dubai received 27,174 investments through 21,605 investors, totalling nearly Dh50 billion. The investments came from 163 nationalities, of which 16 were Arab, five were from the GCC and 142 were foreign.

When looking at the list of top 10 investors by nationality, Emiratis and Indians competed head to head to top the list, with the former recording 4,112 investments worth Dh9.4 billion, while the latter recorded 4,676 investments worth Dh8.6 billion.

Saudis came third with 1,882 investments worth around  Dh3 billion, followed by Pakistanis who recorded 1,851 investments worth Dh2.3 billion, and UK nationals ranked fifth with 1,761 investments worth over Dh3.4 billion. The list of top 10 investors by nationality also included Dubai residents from China, Egypt, Jordan, Canada, and Russia respectively.

Transactions by GCC nationals exceeded Dh13.7 billion in the first nine months of 2018. Emiratis topped the list of the highest GCC investors, followed by citizens of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, respectively.

Demand from Arabs and foreigners
Dubai's real estate market welcomed investors from 16 Arab nationalities, who committed investments worth around Dh6 billion. Jordanians topped the list of highest Arab investors with investments worth over Dh1.2 billion, followed by Egyptians who recorded transactions worth over Dh1 billion. Iraqis and Lebanese investors came third and fourth respectively.

A total of 142 foreign nationalities chose Dubai as a destination for their investments - 13,821 investors concluded 16,900 investments worth over Dh30.2 billion.

The top four foreign nationalities who invested in Dubai are Indians, Britons, Pakistanis and Chinese. Indian investments were worth over Dh8.6 billion, significantly exceeding British investments who came second with investments worth over Dh3.4 billion. Pakistanis recorded Dh2.3 billion in investments, while the Chinese pumped Dh1.7 billion into Dubai real estate. Out of the total investments, women recorded 7,758 investments totalling Dh13 billion.

Top 10 areas
In the list of top 10 areas in terms of the number and value of real estate transactions in Dubai during the first nine months of 2018, Business Bay topped the list with transactions worth Dh5.3 billion. Dubai Marina came in second place.

In terms of mortgages, Dubai Marina listed 736 transactions worth Dh2.2 billion, Al Thanyah Fifth came in second with 640 transactions totalling Dh1.4 billion and Business Bay recorded 590 transactions exceeding Dh3.7 billion, topping the list in terms of value.

- deepthi@khaleejtimes.com

Deepthi Nair

deepthi@khaleejtimes.com