Property Finder, a company specializing in real estate research, revealed that six major deals were concluded in Dubai last April, each exceeding 50 million dirhams, including a villa in Palm Jumeirah, which achieved the second-largest villa transaction value this year at 105 million dirhams. The company, in a recent report on Dubai’s real estate market performance for April 2021, stated that last month saw the highest monthly value of real estate sales transactions, exceeding 10.97 billion dirhams, marking the largest monthly real estate transactions in Dubai in four years.
The report highlighted that 4,382 real estate transactions were completed in April, representing a 4.2% increase in transaction volume and a 0.6% increase in transaction value compared to March 2021. This brings the total number of real estate deals completed since the beginning of the year to 16,577, valued at 36.12 billion dirhams. It noted that transactions valued at up to two million dirhams accounted for 70% of the total transactions, whereas deals ranging from two to five million dirhams constituted 23%, transactions between five and ten million dirhams were 4%, and those exceeding ten million dirhams were 3%.
According to the report, Mohammed bin Rashid City witnessed one of the highest levels of demand in April, making it the area with the largest number of deals in Dubai, followed by Jumeirah Village Circle with 5.8% of total transactions, and Dubai Marina with 5.6%. On the other hand, after ranking first in terms of the number of monthly sales transactions throughout the previous year, Business Bay saw a decrease in total monthly transactions from 7.2% to 3.5%, dropping its ranking from first to tenth.
Lynette Abad, director of research and data at Property Finder, stated that the residential real estate market in Dubai has shown notable activity since the beginning of the year, seeing six transactions each exceeding 50 million dirhams in April alone. She added, “Looking at mortgage transaction data, April, March, and January 2021 experienced the highest number of monthly real estate transactions since March 2010."
Abad explained that 60% of total transactions in April were concentrated in the secondary market, while 40% were in off-plan properties. Regarding transaction volumes, the off-plan real estate sales included 1,934 properties totaling 3.09 billion dirhams, compared to 2,898 properties in the secondary market valued at 7.89 billion dirhams. She mentioned that compared to March 2021, the number of off-plan property transactions in April increased by 12.9%, the highest rate in 14 months, whereas transactions in the secondary market decreased by 0.92%, the first decline in 11 months, indicating that April 2021 recorded the highest number of monthly off-plan property transactions since February 2020, signaling a recovery in the sector.
Abad also noted that Mohammed bin Rashid City recorded the highest sales percentage for villa/townhouse units at 18.5% of total sales transactions in April 2021, followed by Dubai Land at 10.3%, then Dubai Hills Estate at 9.4%, Rukan at 5%, and Town Square at 4.9%. For apartments, Dubai Marina recorded the highest sales transaction rate at 8.5% of total transactions, followed by Jumeirah Village Circle at 8.4%, Jumeirah Lakes Towers at 7.6%, Downtown Dubai at 7.3%, and Business Bay at 5.4%.
Data from Property Finder showed that searches for villas and townhouses in Dubai in April 2021 were concentrated in Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohammed bin Rashid City, and Damac Hills. The top areas of interest for apartment seekers during the same period included Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, and Jumeirah Village Circle.
