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Dubai's house price index up 1.36%

Dubai's official monthly house price index saw a rise of 1.36 per cent as the index value moved from 1.1 to 1.115 amid the lockdown, according to the Dubai Land Department (DLD).
Data from DLD shows that Dubai registered 40,517 sales transactions in 2019, representing a growth of 18 per cent in the volume of registered property sales transactions compared to 34,414 registered sales transactions in 2018.
The quarterly data revealed that since the highs of Q2 2009, when the Dubai property sales market transacted 37,556 sales transactions, the next peak was during Q4 2013, with 20,935 sales transactions when the Dubai real estate market rebounded from the 2007 financial crisis. This was followed by Q1 2017 with 15,179 sales transactions.
DLD data noted that the only peak after 2017 was visible in Q4 2019 with 12,448 sales transactions, where transaction volumes increased month-on-month due to the market picking up ahead of Expo 2020.
Latifa Ibrahim Ahmed, senior director of Real Estate Studies and Research Department at DLD, said the index includes "tremendous market advantages as it provides all those interested with an overview of an in-depth market analysis and insight into how real estate prices in Dubai change during a particular month."
"In the first quarter of 2020, there was a 16 per cent rise in overall transactions compared to the first quarter of 2019, and February 2020 saw an enormous 40 per cent hike in transactions compared to February 2019," DLD said.
According to ValuStrat, the pandemic and the postponement of World Expo ensure that the years-long price slump will persist for at least another year. "Last year, we said values would go down seven to 10 per cent in 2020," said Haidar Tuaima, head of real estate research at appraisal firm ValuStrat. "Now seven per cent is very much on the optimistic side."
In March 2020, a slight decline in sales transactions was registered, in which 3,120 sales transactions were recorded, due to the implications caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic, and they continued to decline into April, which saw 1,808 sales transactions take place despite the full lockdown.
"Comparing Q4 2019 and Q1 2020, the index value for Dubai overall decreased by 2.2 per cent, apartments have decreased by 1.7 per cent and villas/townhouses decreased by 2.6 per cent," said Lynnette Abad, director of Research and Data at Property Finder.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com