February witnessed the highest number of secondary/ready properties (3,814) transacted across Dubai in a single month over the last seven years with deals surging to AED7.43 billion ($2.02 billion), according to UAE-based real estate portal Property Finder.

 

This was up 15.6 per cent over January in terms of volume and 10.2 per cent more in terms of value, stated the report. This took the year-to-date total to 7,109 transactions worth AED14.16 billion, it added.

 

In February, 68 per cent of all transactions were for secondary/ready properties and 32 per cent were for off-plan properties. 

 

When taking the volume of transactions into consideration, Property Finder said the off-plan market transacted 1,163 properties worth a total of AED 1.61 billion and the secondary market transacted 2,650 properties worth a total of AED 5.82 billion.

 

"During the pandemic it was very clear in the search and demand data, which we analyse daily, that consumers wanted to move into a property now and not wait for construction to be completed on an off-plan property," remarked Lynnette Abad, Director of Research & Data. 

 

"This trend was very apparent with end users who were looking to either purchase their first home in Dubai or upgrade to a larger property with more internal and external space," she stated.

 

Abad pointed out that Dubai residential sector had a few record breaking months in H2 and this trend continued into January and February too was no different. 

 

"Additional trends that we saw starting in H2 2020 was secondary/ready properties transacting higher, volume wise, than off-plan properties. This trend also continued into 2021 and the confidence in the ready market continued to grow as February 2021 now holds the record for most secondary/ready properties in a single month over the past seven years, surpassing January’s numbers," she added. 

 

In the villas/townhouses sector, 10.3 per cent of all sales in February 2021 took place in Naad Al Sheeba, followed by Dubai Hills Estate (8.3 per cent), Green Community (8 per cent), Arabian Ranches (4.7 per cent) and Dubailand (4 per cent). 

 

Looking at apartments, 14.9 per cent of all sales transactions took place in Business Bay followed by Dubai Marina(9 per cent), Jumeirah Village Circle (8 percent), Downtown Dubai (6.5 per cent) and Palm Jumeirah (6.2 per cent).

 

Compared to January, the number of off-plan transactions in February increased by 35.8% and the secondary/ready property transactions was up 8.2 per cent. 

 

According to Property Finder, the top areas of interest in terms of searches for villas/townhouses in February were Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohamed bin Rashid City and Damac Hills, while for apartments, the hotspots were Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay and Jumeirah Village Circle.

 

“Since restrictions have eased and as we moved into a new year, we started to see developers launch new phases to existing projects which are under construction," explained Abad. 

 

"These new launches, especially in the villa/townhouse segment, proved to be very popular with investors over the last few months," she added.-TradeArabia News Service