The value of property transactions that took place in Dubai during the first half of this year increased by almost 17 percent, according to official figures released on Sunday.
The Dubai Land Department reported that 132 billion UAE dirhams ($35.9 billion) worth of deals were registered in the year to June 30 – a 16.8 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The number of transactions completed, meanwhile, increased by 26 percent to 35,571.
The DLD said that 25,864 of the deals done were sales transactions worth over 63 billion UAE dirhams, while 7,893 were mortgage deals worth a combined 60 billion UAE dirhams. Some 1,814 additional transactions made up the remaining 9 billion UAE dirhams worth of deals.
The department said that Emiratis were the biggest buyers of property, acquiring 15 billion UAE dirhams worth in 4,510 deals. Saudi nationals bought 4 billion UAE dirhams worth. In total, citizens from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bought 21.7 billion UAE dirhams worth of property, while other Arab nationalities bought 8 billion UAE dirhams worth and foreign nationals bought 28.6 billion UAE dirhams worth, with the most active buying nations being Indian, Pakistani, British, Chinese and Canadian nationals.
The areas witnessing the most deals were Dubai Marina, Business Bay and Barsha South 4.
Sultan Butti bin Mejren, director-general of Dubai Land Department, said: “Our report for the first half of this year bears promising results for professionals in the real estate sector, as despite global economic pressures, Dubai has once again reaffirmed its leadership of regional markets and driven renewed growth in the region.”
A report published by Dubai-based brokers Core Savills last week stated that prices of completed homes were beginning to be affected in certain parts of the market as a result of the launch of more off-plan homes, which are often more attractive to investors as easy payment plans mean they have to make smaller downpayments.
Despite this, it argued that rents in core areas should begin to stabilise later this year after experiencing decline, but may have further to fall in secondary areas.
”We noticed many landlords that were keeping units vacant for 12-18 months as they were not ready to adjust rents when the overall market started to soften,” said Core Savills’ chief executive, David Godchaux. “A lot of them are now reacting by decreasing the rents, to attract tenants back and finally initiate rental income.”
© Zawya 2017
