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The demand for ready-to-move-in villas and townhouses in Dubai surged to an all-time high in October. A total of 665 secondary or ready-to-move-in villas/townhouses were transferred during the month, 7.2 percent higher than in September 2020 and more than 500 percent higher than in May 2020, according to data from the Dubai Land Department (DLD).
In October 2020, the DLD recorded a total of 3,395 sales transactions worth AED 6.93 billion ($1.89 billion), with 37.2 percent in the off-plan segment and 62.8 percent in the secondary segment. This brings the year-to-date total to 27,815 sales transactions worth AED 57.43 billion, according to Mo’asher, Dubai’s official sales price index developed by DLD and Property Finder.
Latifa Ibrahim Ahmed, Director of the Real Estate Studies & Research Department at DLD, said, "Among the most important data that can be obtained this month is the emergence of strong signs of recovery in the market and its return to normal paths across the various segments of real-estate units, especially through the demand for luxury units and the registration of sustainable growth month after month. Overall, this means that the market will enter the new year strongly, especially if we take into account the growing momentum of preparations for Expo Dubai.”
Dubai's overall index has remained stable at 1.092. The Dubai apartment and villa/townhouse index remained steady as well due to more affordable units coming into the ready market.
The most popular areas for secondary (ready) villas/townhouses in October 2020 were Nad Al Sheba (11.8 percent), Town Square (7.8 percent), International City (6.7 percent), Arabian Ranches (6.4 percent) and Dubai Hills Estate (5.9 percent).
Lynnette Abad, Director of Research & Data at Property Finder, said, “Prices for villas/townhouses became more affordable over the years making it an extremely attractive option for real estate investors. Since the pandemic started, many started to spend more time in their homes. This prompted a new trend and people started to want more space and outside spaces for their family. People also started to migrate away from densely populated city centres and towards the suburbs. All of this has led to an all-time high transaction volume in Dubai for villas/townhouses over the past few months.”
Top five locations
Based on proprietary data from Property Finder, the search trends shows that the top five locations for consumers searching for villas/townhouses were Dubai Hills Estates, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Damac Hills, and Mohammed bin Rashid City. Keywords such as ‘upgraded’, ‘pool’ and ‘furnished’ were the top three keywords in October 2020.
October also saw the sale of 11 luxury apartments over three projects on Palm Jumeirah and Downtown worth over AED 15 million each for a total of AED 220.7million.
The most expensive apartment was sold for AED 30 million in One at Palm Jumeirah. All these units were north of 5,000 sq ft and the largest touching 15,000 sq ft in The W residences worth AED 22.73 million, DLD said in a statement.
(Writing by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)
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© ZAWYA 2020
