Dubai first-quarter home sales highest since 2010

Dubai registered the most home sales in the first quarter of the year since 2010, according to a market report by real estate consultancy ValuStrat.

More than 6,000 sales of ready homes, worth Dh13.5 billion ($3.7bn), and 3,600 sales of offplan properties, worth Dh5bn, were recorded in the first three months of the year.

The volume of ready home sales increased 76.1 per cent on an annual basis, while offplan sales declined 30.2 per cent. When compared with the previous quarter, ready home sales were up 17.4 per cent and off-plan sales were 8.9 per cent higher, ValuStrat said.

“General market sentiment has improved,” said Haider Tuaima, head of real estate research at ValuStrat. “This is due to the measures put in place by the government to encourage growth in demand as well as managing oversupply.

“The handling of the Covid-19 crisis and the excellent countrywide vaccination programme boosted market confidence, leading to early economic recovery. With banks offering record low interest rates and a higher loan-to-value ratio of up to 85 per cent, getting on the property ladder became more affordable.”

The average transaction size for ready homes grew 0.9 per cent from the previous quarter, to Dh2.3 million, while off-plan homes increased 8.2 per cent, to Dh1.4m.

The findings mirror those of a report last week by listings portal Property Finder, which showed that sales of ready villas and townhouses in Dubai increased more than threefold during the first quarter, as residents sought more spacious homes.

The best-performing freehold areas were International City, Arabian Ranches, The Meadows, The Lakes and The Palm Jumeirah, according to ValuStrat. Although residential capital values increased 0.8 per cent from last quarter – with the first three months of the year each showing positive trends for the first time since 2014 – prices remain 10.9 per cent lower compared with the first quarter of last year.