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Residential sales and property prices in Dubai are growing at their fastest rate since 2015, but future price growth will be modest, according to a new report.
The February Dubai Residential Snapshot by CBRE showed that transaction volumes reached 5,517 in January 2022, up 80.2 percent from a year earlier, while off-plan and secondary market sales jumped by 187.5 percent and 32.5 percent, respectively.
Average residential sales prices in the emirate were up 10.2 percent in January 2022 compared to January 2021, while rentals increased by 10.1 percent.
However, sales rates per square foot are still 27.1 percent and 13.5 percent below the late 2014 peak for apartments and villas, respectively.
The trend towards villas over apartment was still clearly marked, with average villa prices up by 21.8 percent and apartment prices up by 8.5 percent in January 2022.
Downtown Dubai recorded the highest average sales rate for apartments at 1,958 dirhams ($533) per square foot, while the Palm Jumeirah saw the highest average sales rate for villas at 2,699 dirhams per square foot.
Rental sector
In the rental segment, apartments registered an increase of 8.3 percent, while villas posted a 22.8 percent rise. The overall average rental price was 76,347 dirhams and for a villa, it was 230,275 dirhams.
Downtown also saw the highest average rental apartment rates at 50,723 dirhams, while Al Barari had the highest average villa rent at 798,374 dirhams.
Green Community West saw the biggest jump in sales prices month-on-month, at 4.8 percent for apartments and 6.6 percent for villas.
In the rental sector, apartment prices rose the fastest month-on-month in International City and The Greens, where rents rose by three percent, while Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC), Jumeirah Park and Emirates Hills were the biggest gainers for villas, all also increasing by three percent month-on-month.
“Growth momentum for both transactions volumes and prices increased in January, as Dubai's residential market continues to register record levels of activity,” said Taimur Khan, head of research for MENA at CBRE.
“Looking ahead, we expect that market activity will continue to be robust. However, we do expect the rate of price growth to moderate.”
(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Cleofe Maceda)
