Over 84 percent of real estate professionals expect competition within Dubai’s real estate market to ramp up going forward, according to the 2022 EMEA Real Estate Report published by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices global headquarters.
The report reflected the experiences of residential real estate professionals across seven key markets in Dubai, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece over the past twelve months.
More than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents in Dubai said they had experienced growth over the previous twelve months and expect this positive trend to continue, with 77 percent – the highest figure reported across EMEA countries – predicting the market will grow further in the coming year.
In the last quarter of 2021, the UAE’s real estate market witnessed record-breaking growth. In November 2021, Dubai registered the best month of sales on record, with a total of 6,989 transactions worth AED17.95 billion. In terms of transaction volumes, Dubai reported a total of 57,043 for 2021, representing a 73.6 percent increase on 2020 and a 51.6 percent increase on 2019.
Real estate professionals attribute Dubai’s growth over the last year to have been supported by Expo 2020 Dubai as they observed an increase in the market value of property coupled with an increase in demand both regionally and internationally.
Dubai’s real estate professionals estimate that roughly 60 percent of residential real estate investment has been generated from outside the region, with under half (40 percent) of demand for property originating locally.
According to the findings, a third (32 percent) comes from international investors within EMEA, and just over a quarter (27 percent) from outside of EMEA.
Additionally, more than 50 percent of respondents based in Dubai are most likely to say that the balance of international versus domestic investment will change in the next three to five years.
In term of types of houses in demand, more than half (55 percent) of property professionals said that the pandemic had generated increased demand for starter homes.
Dubai is often seen as a luxury, second home destination, but the results illustrate a shift towards purchasing first and primary properties in the wealthy hotspot. The pandemic has also given fillip to the demand for most property types, but most significantly, there has been a 57 percent rise for detached homes and 58 percent for apartments and flats in Dubai.