Dubai registered the second-highest figure of real estate deals since February 2017 in the first quarter, with 6.590 deals costing about Dh22.9 billion, a rise in number by 43% and in value by 40% year-on-year.
The real estate bulletin provided by Dubai Land Department, ‘Real Estate Updates’, March 2021, provided that real estate deals in Q1 2021 gained a significant rise of 27% and 47% in comparison to Q1 2020 and Q1 2019, respectively.
Highlighting the continued attractiveness of the real estate sector to new investors, the bulletin provided 5,683 new investors entered the market in Q1 2021, showing 64% of the total number of investors during the same period.
“The figures revealed the continuity of achieving positive results in 2021, thereby continuing to enhance the trust of local and international investors in Dubai’s attractive and vibrant real estate environment,” the DLD bulletin said.
The cost of real estate brokerage commissions gained by active real estate brokers in the real estate market touched Dh 392 million in Q1 2021, whereas 143,374 Ejari contracts were registered in Q1 2021, 57% of which were new contracts and 43 percent were renewed contracts.
The main five areas for investor attractiveness for villa deals in Q1 were Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, then comes Wadi Al Safa 5, Wadi Al Safa 7, Nad Al Sheba 1, and Al Thanyah Fourth. In apartment deals, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay, Burj Khalifa, and Al Merkadoh were to main in the list in Q1 2021, provided by the bulletin.
In its recently-released Residential Property Market Report for Q1 2021, UAE-based real estate property agency Betterhomes provided that the “worst is over” for Dubai’s property market, owing to an increase in costs since last summer. The positive trends contain a 12% rise in the figure of unit deals and a 19% rise in the total cost deal in the residential market, as per the Dubai Land Department.
Richard Waind, group managing director at Betterhomes, provided restrictions in travel, lockdowns and the looming threat of tightening fiscal policies have provided a lot of motivation to high net worth Europeans looking to put in the UAE.
“We have seen a large number of Europeans who came to escape lockdown, take advantage of or relaxations in visa rules and extend their stays, with many now looking to buy holiday homes or become residents themselves. The number of transactions record by British, Italian, French, and German buyers increased by 168% since Q1 2020, with luxury villas and apartments on the Palm and other coastal areas being in particularly high demand,” said
Other main findings contain – in terms of residential deals – an 18% cost increase for villa communities in Dubai, owing to rising demand. Adding on there was a 167% rise in the number of recorded buyers for villas and townhouses, whereas the number of actual deals raised by 72% in the first quarter year on year.
Four-bedroom villa deals twice over Q1 2020, then comes five-bedroom villas with a rise of 83%. Whereas off-plan deals accounted for more than 70% of the Dubai market in 2019, the pendulum has now “firmly swung the other way“, with secondary market deals making up 66% of the market in Q1 2021, the report provided.