Sunday, Jul 17, 2016

Dubai: Recent house prices in Dubai have shown further indications of an early recovery in the real estate market, according to local consulting company ValuStrat.

The second quarter 2016 real estate review by ValuStrat has shown that after 12 relative stable months, their residential price index is signalling possible signs of a bottoming-out in property values across the locations it monitored during the course of this year.

The ValuStrat Price Index (VPI) is a comprehensive data driven representation of the monthly price change experienced by typical freehold properties.

During the second quarter 2016, the VPI displayed an overall 1.1 per cent annual decline in values. However, the monthly growth rate of residential values has been broadly stable since July last year.

April and May’s residential VPI registered 98.0 index points while June dipped slightly by 0.1 per cent to 97.9 index points.

According to ValuStrat, the general sentiment has been “cautiously optimistic” towards a recovery commencing in the second half of this year. Evidence from the market place also indicates that both investors and end users are now doing deals on well located and correctly priced properties.

“For the second quarter of 2016, Dubai Land Department transaction volumes for the [areas we monitor] witnessed quarterly increases of 14 per cent for apartments and 7 per cent for villas,” added Haider Tuaima, ValuStrat research manager at ValuStrat.

So far, there are 16,326 residential apartments and villas estimated to be completed this year. The figure is about half of the original estimate quoted last quarter. Nine off-plan residential projects were launched in the second quarter to add more than 2,500 units to the residential pipeline by 2020.

Office transaction sales prices fell by 10.6 per cent since last year and just 1.1 per cent since the last quarter. Median asking rents for office space fell 4.6 per cent annually, and 4.8 per cent since the previous quarter.

Staff Report

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