A grand view of the Dubai Land Department headquarters in Dubai.

Staff Reporter, Gulf Today

The Dubai Land Department (DLD), in cooperation with Property Finder, launched the 1st edition of Dubai’s first ever official Residential Rental Performance Index (RRPI).

In January 2022 the overall monthly Index recorded 0.938 and an index price of Dhs 51,101.

Apartments monthly Index recorded 0.943 and an index price of Dhs 46,994, while Villas/Townhouses monthly Index recorded 0.868 and an index price of Dhs131,882.

The base year for RPPI is 2013 and the base month for the monthly index is January 2013, with the base quarter for the quarterly index being Q1 2013. According to the index, 51,452 leases were recorded in January 2022, 52% of which were new contracts, and 48% were renewed contracts, while 81% of them were annual contracts, and 19% were for non-annual.

For the first time ever, the Dubai RPPI has been released in partnership between DLD and Property Finder. Within this insightful data, there is a plethora of information that is quite notable. In 2021, 564,036 leases throughout the year which broke a 12-year record in terms of volume for real estate rental contracts.

Annual leases increased by 50.3% and non-annual leases increased by 75.5% in 2021 compared to 2020. When comparing the data over the last few years, it is interesting to note that, on average, the annual number of leases have increased by approximately 7% over the past 5 years but in 2021 it increased by 56% compared to 2020. However, in 2020, annual leases grow by 2% compared to 2019 and non-annual leases increased by 115.2%. Data beats opinion and there are a lot of facts to uncover and release into the market for full transparency.

In January 2022, we saw over 51,452 rental contracts in the Dubai market with an even split between new and renewal contracts.  As per Property Finder data the most popular apartments rental contracts were for 2-bedroom apartments with 1 bedroom trailing right behind and the most popular villa/townhouse rental contracts were for 3 bedrooms with 4 bedrooms coming in second place.

Top areas that saw the most rental contracts registration in January 2022 according to Ejari Registrations were Jebel Ali First with 1,811 registrations followed by Naif with 1,760. Al Karama (1,754), Al Warsan First (1,601) and Al Suq Al Kabeer (1,457) were also part of the top 5 areas in 2021. These were followed by Business Bay (1,317), Al Nahda Second (1,276), Barsha South (1,192), Marsa Dubai (1,174) and Nadd Hessa (1,098). In total the top 10 areas accounted for 28 percent of all rental transactions in January 2022.

According to proprietary Property Finder residential search data for rental searches on the platform in 2021, Dubai Marina was the highest searched area, accounting for more than 11% of all searches. This was followed by Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Jumeirah Village Circle and Jumeirah Lakes Towers. For Villas/Townhouse the searches in 2021 for rental properties were dominated in Jumeirah, Dubai Hills Estate and The Springs, accounting for approximately 18% of all searches. This was followed by Arabian Ranches and Umm Suqeim showing the extent of demand for properties on Umm Suqeim Road.

Meanwhile, the real estate and properties transactions valued at 7.1 billion in total during the week ending 25 February 2022. The sum of transactions was 2,064.

300 plots were sold for Dhs 2.58 billion, 1,382 apartments and villas were sold for Dhs 2.88 billion.

The top three transactions were a land in Marsa Dubai sold for Dhs 535.92 million, followed by a land that was sold for Dhs 476.81 million in Marsa Dubai, and a land sold for Dhs 535.92 million in Marsa Dubai in third place.

Al Hebiah Fifth recorded the most transactions for this week by 131 sales transactions worth Dhs 288.54 million, followed by Jebel Ali First with 67 sales transactions worth Dhs 225.98 million, and Al Merkadh with 21 sales transactions worth Dhs 109 million in third place.

The top three transfers for apartments and villas were an apartment was sold for Dhs 518 million in Marsa Dubai, an apartment was second in the list sold for Dhs 250 million in Al Khairan First, and thirdly it was an apartment sold for Dhs 241 million in Burj Khalifa.

The sum of the amount of mortgaged properties for the week was 1.42 billion, with the highest being a land in Business Bay, mortgaged for Dhs 173 million.

57 properties were granted between first-degree relatives worth Dhs 278 million.

Meanwhile, last week the real estate and properties transactions valued at Dhs4.5 billion in total during the week ending 18 February 2022. The sum of transactions was 2,098.