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Surging investor confidence lifts Dubai real estate in 2020

Dubai - In December, Dubai recorded 3,751 transactions worth Dh7.50 billion, the 10th edition of Mo’asher, Dubai’s official sales price index launched by DLD in cooperation with Property Finder, shows

A spike in property transactions in December lifted Dubai’s annual real estate deals in 2020 to 35,400 with a value of Dh72.47 billion, according to Dubai Land Department (DLD) data.

In December, Dubai recorded 3,751 transactions worth Dh7.50 billion, the 10th edition of Mo’asher, Dubai’s official sales price index launched by DLD in cooperation with Property Finder, shows.

“This data confirms the strength of the real estate sector in particular and the macroeconomics of Dubai and the UAE in general. This has strengthened investor confidence and contributed to the effective return of activity to the sector, specifically over the past three months,” said Latifa Ibrahim Ahmed, director of the Real Estate Studies & Research Department at DLD.

The successful strategy to recover from Covid-19 enabled the UAE to have a gradual return, resulting in a complete re-opening of various sectors. The December data signals the start of the recovery that will gain more momentum on the back of the gradual opening of global markets and upcoming Expo 2020 Dubai, the globally-awaited event, said Latifa.

The last few months in 2020 have been record-breaking for the secondary/ready market, with November and December both breaking the secondary/ready market sales transactions records for the past seven years. December 2020 had 2,579 secondary/ready transactions worth Dh6.22 billion, 9.7 per cent more than November 2020, which was already a record-breaking month for the secondary/ready market.

“We have been headed towards a V-shaped recovery, and when we look at the numbers, from the lowest numbers we had in May (1,452 transactions), the market had recovered by almost 270 per cent,” said the report.

Fourth quarter was the strongest in 2020 and helped the year recover most in terms of volume and value through 11,064 sales transactions worth Dh22.07 billion.

In 2020, a total 12,958 transactions worth Dh87.20 billion were registered. Almost 100 per cent of these were for secondary/ready property. “This increased shift in ready property is something we have seen throughout the year as residents are now opting to buy a place to live in rather than rent.”

Lynnette Abad, director of Research and Data at Property Finder, said 2020 was interesting, to say the least. “When it comes to residential real estate, we at Property Finder predicted pent-up demand from the outset; we knew this was something that was going to impact the market. There was a significant rebound in the real estate market after restrictions eased, and people wanted to improve their home lifestyle. With attractive housing prices and the lowest mortgage rates we have ever seen, it was inevitable.”

According to the latest research by real estate services firm, Chestertons, Dubai’s residential sector enjoyed a comparatively strong second half of 2020, supported by an increase in completed property sales and continued tenant demand across more-established villa communities.

The findings show that while the total value of residential property sales fell by almost 14 per cent over 2020 to Dh55.46 billion from Dh64.34 billion in 2019, completed property sales gained pace over the second half of last year, reaching Dh21.67 billion, a 35.5 per cent increase from Dh15.99 billion seen in H2 2019.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com