Home sales in Dubai continued at their breakneck pace in July, with off-plan sales beating existing homes two to one, while prices continued to rise, according to a report Monday from ValuStrat.
Home prices were up 28.5% in July compared to a year ago, with villas, the term used for all single-family homes, registering a 23.5% increase and apartments up 33.4%. Home prices have now surpassed Dubai’s previous peak in 2014, which registered as 175.5 on the ValuStrat Price Index, with the baseline of 100 pegged to the low point of January 2021.
Palm Jumeirah and Jumeirah Islands tied for the highest annual growth of villa prices, up 43% since last July, followed by Dubai Hills Estates, at 38%. All three have seen prices double since 2020, while villas overall have surpassed Dubai’s previous peak
Palm Jumeirah also overperformed the average for apartment price growth, with 30.8% growth, but Discovery Gardens saw the highest increase at 34.6% with the Greens just behind at 34.1%.
The fuel for these massive growth increases has been a virtual tsunami of off-plan sales, with July registering a record number of 10,022 contracts for pre-development homes, or 68.5% of total transactions, and a 60% increase over last year. Ready home sales, by contrast, grew 27% year over year.
The neighborhoods with the most off-plan sales were Dubai Hills Estates, Jumeirah Village Circle and Business Bay, while Palm Jumeirah saw a record number of off-plan villa deals. One-fifth of all contracts were with developer Emaar Properties, the company behind the Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai, Dubai Hills Estates, the Dubai Marina, Emirates living and many others.
Following Emaar, the developers leading off-market sales were Damac Properties, Danube Properties and Nakheel, with between 5% to 7% of market share.
Although home prices in Dubai overall have recovered to highs previously seen a decade ago, —largely because of the price appreciation of villas, which have far surpassed the 2014 peak—apartments have yet to recover their previous value, the index said.
For a detailed perspective on the property market, visit: Dubai - VPI Residential Capital Values - July 2024
