Market must wait before next burst of

Property buying in Dubai could tail off during the high summer weeks if one goes by the pattern seen during June. Second quarter transactions — off-plan and ready — were down 23 per cent compared with what was recorded in the first three months of the year, states the new Chesterton report.

“Seasonality and an amount of uncertainty have curbed transactional volumes,” says the report. But the downbeat mood could pick up as soon as the next season kicks off in Dubai from September.

“It is expected that sales and rental values will maintain the same trend, moving into the last quarter of the year when transactional activity picks up again.”

As for the present, prices of smaller units were able to hold their own, while apartment values in Dubai Silicon Oasis gained a healthy 13 per cent, for the “highest quarter-on-quarter increase among observed areas”.

Jumeirah Village Triangle homes were up 11 per cent, helped by buyer interest for smaller units and expectations of increased capital growth in the near future.

Across the board, “Second quarter apartment sales prices remained stagnant and the recent addition of new stock resulted in downward pressure on pricing in some secondary areas,” said Gazivoda Vucinic, Head of Advisory and Research, Chestertons Mena. “The majority of the more established areas saw no change with the exception of some that saw upward trends.”

But availability of new stock “impacted sales prices in areas like Business Bay and Dubailand at 12- and 10 per cent, respectively. Downtown recorded a 7 per cent decline, due, in part, to the release of a number of branded residences in the area.”