The photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Inayat-ur-Rahman, Deputy Business Editor

Dubai’s real estate market recorded 3,300 sales transactions worth Dhs6.74 billion in January 2021, a growth of 15.5 per cent in terms of transaction number and 37 per cent in terms of value compared to January 2020, according to the 11th edition of Mo’asher, Dubai’s official sales price index.

The index data, which is taken from the base year 2012, base month for the monthly index January 2012, and the base quarter for the quarterly index Q1 2012, shows that Dubai’s real estate market continues its upwards trend. This is due to the proactive measures and incentive packages launched by the Dubai Government to address the effects and consequences of the pandemic.

The trend throughout 2020 was that secondary/ready properties started transacting more, and this trend has continued into this new year. 72 per cent of all transactions in January 2021 were for secondary/ready properties, and 28 per cent were for off-plan properties.

When looking at the volume of transactions, the secondary market transacted 2,373 properties worth a total of Dhs5.43 billion, the highest number of secondary/ready properties transacted in a single month since March 2014. In terms of sales transactions, 70 per cent were apartments and 30 per cent were villas/townhouses.

Q4 2020 was the strongest quarter in 2020 and helped the year recover the most in terms of volume and value, with 11,065 sales transactions worth Dhs22.07 billion.

This quarter kept the momentum going for the year to start strong, and are most likely going to see this going forward into February, where there has already been more than Dhs3.3 billion in sales transactions in the first week.

Muhammad Binghatti, CEO,  Binghatti Developers told Gulf Today that Dubai real estate sector market is in fine fettle and is marching ahead in 2021 due to major incentives launched by the government and lucrative business ambiance in the country.

He mentioned that his company is looking forward to handover residential units in the Binghatti Gateway project in Al Jaddaf area in Dubai, within a month.

“The country has succeeded in providing all public and private services, which greatly contributed to mitigating the expected impact of the pandemic on the real estate sector, thanks to the proactive measures of the government, digital transformation and technological progress,” Binghatti added.

He emphasised that Binghatti is increasing its investments during 2021 and expanding its portfolio, which currently contains 40 projects, worth more than Dhs3.5b, all over the UAE.

This included an Dhs38 million villa in Emirates Hills and an Dhs25.2 million villa in Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Also, 11.5 per cent of all sales for villas/townhouses in January 2021 took place in Nad Al Sheba, followed by DubaiLand (11.4 per cent), Meydan (7.5 per cent), Dubai Hills Estate (6 per cent) and Tilal Al Ghaf (4.8 per cent). Looking at apartments, 12.4 per cent of all sales transactions took place in Business Bay, followed by Dubai Marina (9.7 per cent), Jumeirah Village Circle (9.3 per cent), Downtown Dubai (5.6 per cent) and Palm Jumeirah (5.4 per cent)

According to proprietary Property Finder demand data, the top areas of interest in terms of searches for villas/townhouses in January 2021 were Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohamed Bin Rashid City, and Damac Hills. As for apartments for the same period, the top areas of interest were Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, and Jumeirah Beach Residence.

Overall, the monthly Index recorded 1.069 and an index price of Dhs1,006,979. Apartments’ monthly Index recorded 1.127 and an index price of Dhs952,825, while the monthly index of Villas/Townhouses recorded 0.922 and an index price of Dhs1,727,562.

WAM