Dubai's real state sector witnessed solid activity last month recording a total 4,832 property transactions worth AED10.97 billion ($2.3 billion), according to a UAE-based real estate portal, Property Finder. 

 

Of this, the off-plan transactions increased by 12.9 per cent, hitting a 14-month high while the secondary/ready property deals fell for the first time in 11 months, it stated.

 

One in four apartments sold in Dubai last month were either in Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Village Circle or Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

 

According to Property Finder, this is the highest value of monthly property transactions in four years. April had 4.2 per cent more than March 2021 in terms of volume and 0.6 per cent more in terms of value. This brings the year to date total to 16,577 transactions worth AED36.12 billion, it stated.

 

In April, 70 per cent of the total transactions were up to AED2 million, while 23 per cent were between AED2 million to AED5 million, four per cent were between AED5 million to AED10 million and 3 per cent above AED10 million. 

 

"The dynamics in the residential real estate market in 2021 have been interesting thus far. In April alone, we have seen six villa transactions over AED50 million, with one on the Palm recorded as the second highest villa transaction in 2021 worth AED105 million," stated Lynnette Abad Sacchetto, Director of Research & Data.

 

"When looking at the mortgage transaction data, we have seen that April, March and January of 2021 had the highest number of monthly transactions since March 2010," he noted.

 

Interestingly, one of the major trends seen in April was in Mohammed bin Rashid City which recorded most transactions in a single community. 

 

"Followed by Jumeirah Village Circle, accounting for 5.8% of all transactions and Dubai Marina with 5.6% of all transactions. In addition, Business Bay, which has dominated the top two spots for the most number of monthly sales in a community for the past year, fell from 7.2 percent of total transactions in a single month to 3.5 percent. Falling from number one on the ranking to number 10," he added.

 

In April, 60 per cent of all transactions were for secondary/ready properties and 40 per cent were for off-plan properties. When we look at the volume of transactions, the off-plan market transacted 1,934 properties worth AED3.09 billion and the secondary market transacted 2,898 properties worth a total of AED 7.89 billion. 

 

Comparing this to March 2021, the number of off-plan transactions in April increased by 12.9 percent, the highest in 14 months and the secondary/ready property transactions decreased for the first time in 11 months by 0.92 percent.

 

"In the past few months, we have seen the highest amount of off-plan transactions month-on-month since February 2020 as the off-plan sector seems to be picking up again," said Sacchetto. 

 

"Developers are wooing foreign investors with attractive pricing schemes and capitalizing on the new visa regulations to attract foreign direct investment," she added.

 

In the villas/townhouses sector, 18.5 per cent of all sales in April took place in Mohammed bin Rashid City, followed by Dubailand (10.3 per cent), Dubai Hills Estate (9.4 per cent), Rukan (5 per cent) and Town Square(4.9 per cent). 

 

Looking at apartments, 8.5 per cent of all sales transactions took place in Dubai Marina followed by Jumeirah Village Circle (8.4 per cent), Jumeirah Lake Towers (7.6 per cent), DownTown Dubai (7.3 percent) and Business Bay (5.4 per cent).

 

According to Property finder data, the top areas of interest in terms of searches for villas/townhouses in April 2021 were Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohammed bin Rashid City and Damac Hills, while for apartments it were Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay and Jumeirah Village Circle.-TradeArabia News Service