Dubai villa sales rise 35%

DUBAI / Emirates Business

Dubai recorded a 5 percent drop in apartment transactions during the first quarter of 2019, while villa sales in the emirate are up by 35 percent, according to data in ‘Property Finder Trends’ report, released earlier this month.
The figures show that the type of properties being purchased is changing, although overall sales transactions are steady and in line with 2018.
Dubai apartments remain the preferred property type, and although their year-on-year transaction numbers have declined, the value has increased. This is reflective of an end-user driven market. End-users tend to buy larger apartments and those in prime locations, while studios and 1-bed apartments that offer higher yields are preferred by investors.
Downtown Dubai saw the most apartment sales in H1 2019 at 1,586, of which 1,288 were off-plan transactions. Dubai Hills Estate (972 off-plan apartment transactions) and The Lagoons in Dubai Creek Harbour (853 off-plan apartment transactions), both Emaar developments, were also popular.
For villas, there have been more transactions but at lower values, mostly in the new, affordable communities targeted at the low to middle income segment.
Dubai South with 434 sales (all off-plan) had by far the most villa/townhouse transactions in H1 2019.
Town Squarewith 188 sales (128 off-plan) also fits this description.
Another two Emaar proje-cts targeted at mid-upper income end-users were popular: Arabian Ranches 2 had the second most with 331 trans-actions, 231 of which were
off-plan, and Dubai Hills Estate had 208, including 207 off-plan sales.
Richard Waind, Managing Director at Better Homes writing for ‘Trends’, said, “We are starting to see the availability of property in the secondary market dry up as those with no pressing need to sell hold on to their assets to ride out the current price cycle. This should put a natural handbrake on future price falls.”
For Dubai apartments, the median advertised price is AED1,163 per square foot, revealed the ‘Trends’ report. Ras Al Khaimah apartments for sale had the biggest decline in prices in H1 2019, dropping 6.2 percent to an advertised median price of AED560 per square foot; exactly half the median advertised price in Abu Dhabi which dropped 4.4 percent to AED1,120.
Ajman, with a median square foot advertised price of just AED269, is still by far the cheapest. Prices dropped 3.9 percent in H1. Sharjah apartments held their value best in H1 as they have done for the last couple of years. They declined modestly by 1.5 percent during this half-year to a
median advertised price of AED475 per square foot.