Affordable housing accounts for 41% residential sales in Dubai in 2019

Dubai registered 15,516 deals of residential properties valued below Dhs1m in 2019, according to a report from Property Finder.

The low-end transactions made up 41 per cent of the overall 37,788 residential deals in 2019 in the emirate.

Areas that recorded the highest number of sales of residential properties priced below Dhs1m in 2019 were Jumeirah Village Circle (1,473 transactions), International City (1,426), Meydan (1,079), Business Bay (976) and Jumeirah Lakes Towers (887).

The average sale price of a property in Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) was Dhs586,389 in 2019.

Most of the sales in the residential space were of studios and one-bed apartments, illustrating a considerable shift in the emirate’s real estate sector that has traditionally focused on the luxury segment.

Many first-time home buyers prefer properties costing less than Dhs1m, the report noted.

“In H2 of last year, we started to see an increase in investor activity buying studios and one bedrooms, presumably gearing up toward Expo 2020 with rental income in mind,” says Lynnette Abad, director of data & research, Property Finder.

Competitive payment plans and other incentives, have bolstered the demand and accessibility of affordable residential properties.

Off-plan transactions
Dubai registered 9,044 off-plan transactions for units below Dhs1m in 2019.

In the off-plan space, Meydan constituted most affordable housing deals of below Dhs1m (1,040), followed by Dubai Hills Estate (812), JVC (783), Business Bay (768) and Dubai South (689).

In Meydan, Azizi Riviera accounted for most of such off-plan property transactions while co-living projects Socio, Collective and Collective 2.0 made up the most of such off-plan deals in Dubai Hills Estate.

In Dubai South, MAG 5 Boulevard, Mag 5 and Emaar South registered the most off-plan, below-Dhs1m deals.

Secondary market deals
Dubai registered a total of 6,472 deals on the secondary market for properties worth less than Dhs1m in 2019.

International City led the category of secondary market deals with 1,128 transactions, followed by JVC (690), Al Furjan (507), Dubai Sports City and Dubai Marina (469 each).

The average sale price for a ready property in International City was Dhs313,173 in 2019.

Also read: Who is affordable housing affordable for in Dubai?

Read more: Exploring the term ‘affordable housing’ in Dubai