Dubai realty posts record 5-year deals in August

Dubai’s real estate market registered in August the highest transaction level since January 2017 with a record of 5,780 sales worth Dh14.97 billion, underscoring the sustained bounce back in investor confidence.

Property Finder, a leading property portal in the Mena region, said in its report that after June, August 2021 is now the second highest month since December 2013 for the highest number of sales transactions in a single calendar month.

“August 2021 had 5,780 transactions worth Dh14.97 billion, making it the best August on record in the past 12 years. This brings the year to date total to 37,537 sales transactions worth Dh88.12 billion,” said the portal in its review.

In just eight months, the value of real estate sales transactions is 22.61 per cent more than 2020 as a whole. The entire year of 2020 had 35,401 sales transactions worth Dh 71.87 billion, it said.

According to a Reuters survey of 11 property analysts taken in August, Dubai's house prices were forecast to rise 3.0 per cent this year and 2.5 per cent in 2022, compared with 1.1 per cent and 2.8 per cent expected three months ago.

In particular, Dubai's residential property market is on a steady course, with prices expected to rise modestly over the next couple of years, according to a poll of housing analysts who say property prices there will remain affordable during that time.

Dubai’s economy has bounced back sharply from the pandemic in the city-state following a successful vaccination drive, and that has spilled into the real estate market, with a continued increase in sales, according to Dubai Land Department records.

That modest outlook stands in stark contrast with other world property markets like Canada, Australia and New Zealand where already record-high house prices were expected to rise in double digits this year, stretching the limits of affordability.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com