How does the Dubai property market stand in September 2020? what are buyers and tenants' behaviours? how does it compare to 2019?

First of all, I hope you are all healthy and coming together in these trying times, in this report, as always I will give an honest overview of where the market stands today with facts and the odd opinion/advice.

Nothing is predictable at the moment and we can speculate as much as we want, many investors have seen a drop-in price and ROI’s from the past years but Dubai still remains one of the most profitable countries to invest in real estate throughout the world.

I have witnessed a few posts from Investors who say their portfolio worth has dropped by 50% since purchase 10 years ago but its not just property value that you need to take into account. Dubai has one of the highest ROI. IE, if you purchased a property in 2008 for AED1,000,000, at this time rentals for the same apartment would have been around AED70,000 with service charges circa AED15,000 – this would have made the investor on average over AED500,000 in income (taking into account rental price decreases) so whilst the property price for the said unit may now be valued at AED650,000 the investment is still in the black by AED150,000.

In addition to the above, we were always going to have a slow/steady market in 2020-2023 due to the amount of supply resulting from multiple off-plan sales in 2014-2016 – and with the obvious economy struggles around the world, this has been even more challenging.

But, as the good old saying, every cloud has a silver lining for multiple reasons.

Positives that have come out of 2020 so far..

40,000 villas and townhouses being handed over throughout the year are now in high demand and being leased faster than we can put online due to lockdown blues of wanting more outside space – with the addition of more supply they have also become more affordable for tenants whilst giving the investor an immediate income

Rental prices have dropped due to supply and companies like https://www.gourban.com have created ways to expedite a smoother tenant and landlord journey by eliminating cheques, monthly payments, zero penalty contracts and taking the process online which results in less commission required for the tenants to pay

The secondary market has peaked with an increase in sales from 2019 with residents moving towards owning as opposed to leasing

2019 v 2020:

July 2019 – Sept 2019

Combined Apartment and Villa/Townhouse Transactions 8,934

Off plan Registrations – Total 5,311 – of which 3,962 were apartments and 1,349 were villa/townhouses

Sales under AED1,000,000 – 2,131 properties

Secondary Registrations – Total 3,623 – of which 2,660 were apartments and 963 were villa/townhouses

Sales under AED1,000,000 – 1,766 properties

July 2020 – Sept 2020

Combined Apartment and Villa/Townhouse Transactions – 5,414 – 39% decrease

Off plan Registrations – Total 1,696 – of which 1,396 were apartments and 300 were villa/townhouses – 68% decrease, considerably lower due to developers not releasing new projects in the past 12 months

Sales under AED1,000,000 – 918 properties

Secondary Registrations – Total 3,718 – of which 2,334 were apartments and 1,384 were villa/townhouses – 3% increase

Sales under AED1,000,000 – 1,662 properties

Buyers Current Search Behaviour May – Sept 2020

Top searched areas in order – Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Downtown, Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, JVC, Business Bay, JBR

By Bedrooms Apartments and Villa/Townhouses

14% 3 bedrooms, 13% 2 bedrooms, 9% 1 bedrooms, 3% Studios – 44% no selection

Top Searched Key Words

In order – upgraded, furnished, pool, payment plan, sea view, private pool, rented, corner, brand new

Tenants Current Search Behaviour May – Sept 2020

Top searched areas in order – Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, JVC, Business Bay, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Jumeirah, Al Barsha

By Bedrooms Apartments and Villa/Townhouses

18% 2 bedrooms, 16% 1 bedrooms, 13% 3 bedrooms, 6% 4 bedrooms, 5.5% studios – 40% not selected

Top Searched Key Words

In order – chiller free, pool, upgraded, brand new, new, private pool, garden, sea view, balcony, modern

Thank you for reading, stay safe and get in touch if you are looking for assistance of advice.

Laura V Adams

Data from propertymonitor and datafinder