Dubai realty set to tap more HNWIs as sales climb to Dhs24.42b

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

With wearing face masks no longer mandatory in public areas, except for public transportation, mosques, and medical facilities, the Dubai property market is expected to continue to its high momentum as high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) reposed trust in the growing sector despite the challenging environment across the globe.

The market is already cruising as September 2022 concluded with 8,649 transactions valuing Dhs24.42 billion. This marks an increase of a little over 13 per cent and 24 per cent in terms of transaction volume and value, respectively.

Dubai’s real estate attracted over Dhs20 billion in sales in a fourth consecutive month as investors continued to invest in the market. After registering Dhs22.75 billion sales in June and Dh21 billion in July through 8,897 and 7,092 deals, respectively, it attracted record Dhs24.3 billion investment through 9,720 sales deals in August despite global headwinds.

The total sales figure in 2022, at the end of September, has crossed Dhs184 billion, according to the Zoom Property Insights.

Ata Shobeiry, CEO of Zoom Property, believes that Dubai real estate will be positively impacted by the uplifting of pandemic restrictions in the UAE.

“Dubai had already established itself as a safe zone by successfully hosting a global event ‘Expo 2020’, during the pandemic. This posed investors’ trust in Dubai and its different sectors, the most notable being the real estate segment. And now that the pandemic restrictions are lifted, the real estate sector will garner more interest from HNWIs looking for investment opportunities in the UAE,” he said.

The demand for villas in Dubai witnessed a substantial increase during the pandemic as people realised the importance of having bigger and more spacious homes. Even though COVID-19 cases have seen a significant decrease over the last year, the villa segment continues to perform better. Data obtained from DXBinteract suggests that September 2022 saw the transactions of 1,694 villas valued at Dh5.7 billion. These figures show year-on-year growth of 1.6 per cent.

Experts believe that the demand for villas will continue to increase in the near future as HNWIs and foreign investors continue to prefer the Dubai property market compared to other regions.

The Zoom Property Insights reveal that the average villa rents in Dubai have increased by over 24 per cent to date. With this, the average annual villa rents have jumped to Dhs263,034. On the contrary, the average rent of apartments is limited to Dh87,774. Due to the rising price of rental villas, many tenants are switching back to apartments, which has led to increased demand.

“The increase in villa rents is forcing many tenants to look for affordable options. The fact that pandemic restrictions are being lifted is also playing its role, as there’s no longer a fear of another lockdown which will confine people to the four walls of their homes. However, those who are used to the upscale lifestyle of villas will continue preferring them, which will fuel the growth of this segment”, Shobeiry said.

Zoom Property is an emerging property portal in the UAE with a primary focus on Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah markets. The portal also features international properties in KSA, the UK and other regions on the platform to facilitate buyers and renters. It is also popular among developers, real estate brokerages and property sellers.

Dubai’s real estate sector maintains a sustainable growth in terms of sales value and volume in August 2022. According to Mo’asher, Dubai’s official Sales Price and Rental Performance Index launched by Dubai Land Department (DLD) in cooperation with Property Finder, Dubai’s real estate market records a total of 9,720 sales transactions registered in August 2022. The data marks the highest performance in the last decade and demonstrates a significant increase in the overall performance of the sales transaction volume by 69.57 percent and 63.58 percent in terms of value year on year, which recorded the highest performance for a month ever recorded in the last 10 years.

In August 2022, Mo’asher recorded a 1.348 monthly index for sales and an index price of Dhs 1,311,362. The apartments monthly Index recorded 1.428 and an index price of Dhs 1,229,308.

Furthermore, Mo’asher recorded a 0.983 monthly index for rental and an index price of Dhs 53,902. The apartments monthly Index recorded 0.988 and an index price of AED 49,195 whereas, the villas/townhouses’ monthly Index recorded 0.891 and an index price of Dhs 137,034.

Mo’asher data for August showcase a positive sentiment on the real estate sector with a record growth in the total sales transactions. During the month of August 2022, sales transactions overtook last year’s transaction with a significant increase of 69.57 percent compared to August 2021, which recorded the highest performance for a month ever recorded in the last 10 years.