Dubai house deals down 45% in Q3: CBRE

The traditional summer slowdown impacted real estate market activity in Dubai, with total residential transactions down 45 per cent year-on-year – from 2,649 transactions in Q3 2010 just 1,459 during the third quarter this year, CB Richard Ellis said in its latest report on the Dubai property market.

“The low number of completed deals, typified market performance in what turned out to be a very passive quarter,” HSBC Middle East’s Matthew Green, Head of Research & Consultancy; and Mohammed Faheem, Senior Research Analyst, wrote in the report.

The report by CBRE, a global property advisory firm, said the opening of the new Green Line on the Dubai Metro will lead to stabilization of rents and an increase in occupancy rates immediately surrounding operational stations as “occupiers look to exploit the convenience of key public transport nodes.”

The research firm noted that limited supply and higher demand for villas in Dubai made them outperform apartments in the emirate. “Villa properties continue to outperform apartments as the more limited supply and strong demand for high end properties impacts overall performance,” the report said.

“Despite this, average lease rates have dropped by 10 per cent year-on-year – around half of the average decline for apartments (19 per cent) during the same period. The most significant fall was in the two-bedroom apartment category at 26 per cent. The lowest drop was for five-bedroom villas at just 2 per cent, reflecting the fundamentals at play and the relative oversupply of small villa/townhouse units in developments in Jumeirah Village and the Mirdiff area.”

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