Villa prices climb 2.1% and apartments up 0.5% last month; Palm Jumeirah remained top choice for apartments and Jumeirah Island remains preferred villa community

Dubai’s real estate continued its upward trend in February as the investors and end-users explored best buying options for residential properties on long-term lease, says a latest report.

The ValuStrat Price Index (VPI), which reached at 78.1 points – 21.9 per cent lower than the 100-point index base of January 2014, recorded a steady price growth of just over one per cent in February due to demand for residential properties in Dubai. It further noted 2.1 per cent growth in villa values and 0.5 per cent increase in apartment prices last month.

Haider Tuaima, director and head of Real Estate Research at ValuStrat, said Dubai home sales for the first two months of 2022 — both in terms of both total volume and total value, have already surpassed the full first quarter of 2021, reflecting a high demand in the market.

“The VPI for villas grew 33.9 per cent annually in February to reach 92.1 index points, while freehold apartments grew 8.1 per cent to 69.2 index points when compared to February last year. However, the first two months of 2022 saw the trend of monthly capital value growth stabilise at just over one per cent,” Tuaima told Khaleej Times on Monday.

In reply to a question, he said expectation for March and first-quarter performance is more of the same witnessed during January and February, with more evidence of a steady monthly growth rate, albeit lower than what was witnessed last year.

Apartments back in business

The ValuStrat report noted that all apartment locations, monitored by the valuation-based index, had positive annual capital gains with the exception of Jumeirah Village that recorded a one per cent decline in value.

“Best annual apartment performance with double-digit growth was recorded in highly demanded Palm Jumeirah (21.2 per cent), as well as established locations such as Jumeirah Beach Residence (16.3 per cent), Burj Khalifa (13.7 per cent), The Views (11.2 per cent), and The Greens (10.3 per cent).

Villas are in demand

The ValuStrat report said that villa capital values grew at a constant monthly rate, some areas saw prices become stable such as Mudon (0.5 per cent) and Green Community West (0.7 per cent).

“On an annual basis, the top performers were Jumeirah Islands (40.7 per cent), Arabian Ranches (39.4 per cent), The Lakes (36.7 per cent), and Palm Jumeirah (34.4 per cent),” the report said.

“February 2022 saw villas located in Palm Jumeirah go beyond their peaks of 2014 by three per cent with 123.8 VPI points. February residential sales transaction volumes increased 18.9 per cent when compared to the previous month and 105.4 per cent higher than the same period last year,” according to the report.

Another record year

Ata Shobeiry, chief executive officer of Zoom Property, said Dubai real estate is going to witness another record year after the brilliant start in first two months of 2022.

“After 2021’s record-breaking performance, I believe 2022 will be another promising year for the Dubai property market,” Shobeiry said.

“The growth during the first two months has been marginal but steady. So, I can see the first quarter of 2022 ending on a high note. With Expo 2020 also coming to close, there may be a slight change in the trend, but the market, on the whole, will remain unaffected,” he added.

Ready properties in demand

The month-on-month performance saw cash and mortgage sales of ready properties grow 48.1 per cent, but off-plan Oqood (contract) registrations declined 5.8 per cent, representing 42.9 per cent of overall home transactions.

“February saw 17 transactions valued over Dh30 million, one such transaction of an off-plan 5-bedroom apartment located in Business Bay sold for Dh68.9 million,” the report said. Topping the sales charts overall were properties developed by Emaar (19.1 per cent), Damac (14.3 per cent), Nakheel (11.3 per cent), Azizi (6.7 per cent), and Dubai Properties (4.9 per cent).

Major off-plan locations

Top off-plan locations transacted this month included projects located in Meydan One (14.8 per cent), Business Bay (11.4 per cent), Dubai Creek Harbour (7.2 per cent), and Jumeirah Village (6.9 per cent), the report said.

Most transacted ready homes were in Damac Lagoons (10.5 per cent), Al Furjan (9.3 per cent), Jumeirah Village (8.5 per cent), Business Bay (7.3 per cent), and Dubai Marina (4.9 per cent). Jumeirah Village and Al Furjan broke their individual records with the greatest number of homes sold in one month since 2010, according to the ValuStrat report.