Increased property transaction trend will continue in 2021

Dubai's real estate market witnessed massive activity at the beginning of the year as secondary and ready properties transactions jumped to nearly seven-year high. And according to official and industry executives, this trend of increased transactions will continue in the coming months.

A total of 3,300 sales transactions worth USD 1.8 billion were recorded in January 2021, a growth of 15.5 percent in terms of transaction numbers and 37 percent in terms of value compared to January 2020. It was the highest number of secondary and ready properties transacted in a single month since March 2014, Dubai Land Department said in its 11th edition of Mo'asher, Dubai's official sales price index in cooperation with Property Finder.

Data showed that Dubai's real estate market continued its upward trend, thanks to the proactive measures and incentive packages launched by the government to address the effects and consequences of the outbreak of COVID-19.

'The trend throughout 2020 was that properties started transacting more, and this trend continued into this new year. 72 percent of all transactions in January 2021 were for secondary/ready properties, and 28 percent were for off-plan properties. When looking at the volume of transactions, the secondary market transacted 2,373 properties worth a total of USD 1.4 billion, the highest number of secondary/ready properties transacted in a single month since March 2014. In terms of sales transactions, 70 percent were apartments and 30 percent were villas/townhouses," DLD reported.

John Stevens, managing director of Asteco, said the slowdown in new project launches and the increased affordability of completed properties led to a rise in transaction volumes toward the end of 2020 and ultimately resulted in an increase in end-users and first-time buyers.

Q4 2020 was the strongest quarter in 2020 and helped the year recover the most in terms of volume and value, with 11,065 sales transactions worth USD 6 billion.

The quarter kept the momentum going for the year to start strong and this is going forward into February, that has already seen more than USD 898 million in sales transactions in the first week. This included a USD 10 million villa in Emirates Hills and a USD 6.8 million villa in Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Around 11.5 percent of all sales for villas/townhouses in January 2021 took place in Nad Al Sheba, followed by Dubailand (11.4 per cent), Meydan (7.5 per cent), Dubai Hills Estate (six per cent) and Tilal al Ghaf (4.8 per cent).

As for apartments, 12.4 percent of all sales transactions took place in Business Bay, followed by Dubai Marina (9.7 per cent), Jumeirah Village Circle (9.3 per cent), Downtown (5.6 per cent) and Palm Jumeirah (5.4 per cent).

According to proprietary Property Finder, the top areas of interest in terms of searches for villas/townhouses in January 2021 were Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohamed bin Rashid City, and Damac Hills. As for apartments for the same period, the top areas of interest were Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, and Jumeirah Beach Residence.