Dubai property rebounds

12 December 2012

Sale and rental rates in Dubai have increased this year

Dubai’s property market has rebounded this year after three years of declining sales and rental rates.

According to research by US-based property consultant CBRE, lease rates in Dubai have increase by 17 per cent over the past 12 months. The increase is a reversal in fortunes following a 54 per cent decline between the fourth quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2011.

The best-performing areas have been Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, the Greens, Jumeirah Beach Residences, and the Palm Jumeirah, which saw rentals increase by 24 per cent this year.

Sales prices have also increased in those areas. During 2012, they increased by 13 per cent on average. Prices for property at the Greens and Downtown Dubai performed the best, with a 20 per cent increase on last year.

The supply of residential property increased by a compound average growth rate of 8 per cent between 2007 and 2011, with the stock of apartments growing by 9 per cent and the number of villas increasing by 4 per cent. The main growth came in 2007 and 2008 when Nakheel completed its International City and Discovery Gardens developments.

Looking ahead, CBRE estimates there will be 36,000 new apartments and villas come on to the market between 2013 and 2015. About 26 per cent of this new stock will come from Dubailand developments, such as Motor City, Dubai Sports City, Liwan and the Dubailand residences.

Further ahead, new stock will come from newly announced projects. The largest is the Mohamed bin Rashid City development announced by local developers Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding in late November.

Since then, the two developers have released details of plans to build a new residential community at Mohammed bin Rashid City known as Dubai Hills. The gated community will be built between Al-Khail and Emirates Roads, and will include high-end villas surrounding a golf course, similar to the existing Emirates Hills development next to Emirates Golf Club.

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