Investors flock to buy Dubai realty in Ramadan

Dubai’s real estate market continued its upward trend during the holy month of Ramadan despite reduced working hours as investors flocked to purchase apartments and villas amid fears of a price increase in the coming weeks.

The emirate recorded 4,804 property sales worth Dh9.99 billion, the highest number of transactions during Ramadan. The number of transactions in Ramadan this year grew by 211 per cent compared to 2020 and 57 per cent compared to 2019, according to data released by Property Finder Group on Tuesday.

Earlier, the emirate recorded the previous highest Ramadan sales in 2015 when it saw 3,870 property sales transactions and since then the number of transactions in the holy month have averaged around 2,500 every year. Ramadan 2020, being in the midst of the pandemic and in the lockdown last year, saw only 1,543 sales transactions.

“There was always a myth that the real estate market slowed down during Ramadan and a few years ago we dove into the data and debunked that myth. Ramadan has proven to be a strong time for real estate sales and as we can see this year the record breaking trends since the ease in lockdown continued during Ramadan,” according to Lynnette Abad Sacchetto, director of Research & Data at Property Finder Group.

Realty bottom out

Imran Farooq, chief executive, Samana Developers, said Dubai market has now bottomed out, showed it maximum resilience and finally achieved boom.

“This is at the back of excellent handling of Covid-10 crisis, highly successful country-wide vaccination drive, and commitment of His Highness Shaikh Muhammed Bin Rashid, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, of converting a crisis into an opportunity,” Farooq told Khaleej Times.

Historic 4,804 transactions valued at Dh9.99 billion in Ramadan 2021 reflects Dubai’s attraction as a magnet for investors as soon as Covid-19 related travel and business restrictions were eased. Samana Developers has been optimistic about Dubai real estate market has, time and again, been predicting similar outlook, he said.

“Investors gained from the low trend caused by Covid-19 and invested into future for higher return on investment when the crisis are over. They have now seen the results,” he added.

Property prices picking up

In another positive development on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley also said Dubai property prices are rising for the first time in six years amid higher demand and a slowdown of project launches since 2017.

Citing research from consulting firm ValuStrat, the US investment bank said there was a 1.2 per cent month-on-month rise in residential values in April, the index’s highest monthly growth rate in seven years.

“Demand for residential real estate has picked up faster than expected, amidst a wave of government reforms over the past 12 months, attractive mortgage rates, and a shift in demand patterns due to Covid-19,” according to Morgan Stanley research note.

Property firms earnings up

As the property prices are heading towards stability since fourth quarter of 2020, the listed companies have reported better earnings this year.

Emaar Properties recorded an eight per cent growth in net profit to Dh657 million for the first quarter 2021 compared to the net profit of Dh609 million during the same period in 2020.

— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com