The Dubai real estate market has many layers and we can't take a blanket approach when discussing the market. We have seen the gated community market rebound since COVID lockdown in March 2020 as residents are seeking larger homes and gardens as they very quickly had to learn to live with the new norm of working and schooling from home.
In this demand for more living space, there has been a significant shift towards quality buildings in prime locations and new developing communities like Dubai Hills and Townsquare. The choice of affordable townhouse communities are abundant and are available at prices not seen previously in the market. This is leading to the classic issue of demand outstripping supply which in turn has seen an upward turn in both rental and sales prices in these popular new developments.
At the start of 2020, the Dubai Real Estate Market was at the bottom of a 6-year downward price cycle and this also contributed to some stabilisation in the market and resulted in the marginal price increases we seeing today in the high demand townhouse & villa communities.
Loan to value rates has increased with first-time buyers now having access to 80% mortgages and interest rates available as low as 2.21% and even fixed-rate mortgages being offered for up to 10 years. This offered a perfect opportunity for those first-time buyers and young families who wouldn't previously have considered jumping onto the property ladder.
Transaction prices in the immediate post-lockdown period (Q2/Q3 2020) were not a true reflection of the 'normal' market. Many properties were placed on the market as a result of people losing their jobs, in particular the aviation industry, that needed to be sold quickly. This was also prevalent in new communities handing over where the owners had a final payment to make to developers but could no longer obtain a mortgage due to a change in circumstances and found themselves in a 'forced sale' situation.
In Q4 of 2020 many new communities that were due for handover were delayed which resulted in buyers entering into bidding wars for the available inventory in the market. Off Plan townhouse launches, Elan at Tilal Al Ghaf, La Rosa III and Cherrywoods all offering post-handover payment plans proved to be the big winners.
For further information please read
Link to our video on Dubai Hills and Townsquare
Author Fintan Flannelly
Sales and Off Plan Manager
Exclusive Links Real Estate
28th January 2021
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