Dubai Villas become an affordable option for home buyers

The DUBAI HOUSE PRICE INDEX released by Property Monitor show that house prices declined by 13.2% year-on-year in April 2019.

While many leading villa communities showed an average decline of 14% annually, the report starting from September 2015 shows an annual decline of 19% in April 2019 for all selection of properties. It remains to be seen if the later months of the year will correct itself to maintain a lower average of the annual percentage.

Lowering prices, over supply of residential units and decreased transaction of apartments will make the market look at villas and townhouses as a viable option for housing especially those looking at spending on villas above AED 2 million.

Points worth noting about Dubai House Price Index report

• The Dubai House Price Index from Property Monitor tracks the prices of a selection of apartment and villa/townhouse properties from September 2015 to date.
• Prices declined by 1.5% month-on-month, 0.2% less than the monthly change recorded in January 2019.
• In April 2019, the annual decline in house prices was more pronounced in communities such as Emirates Living, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai Silicon Oasis and IMPZ, where house prices declined by more than 14% on average.
• Off-plan apartment transfers were higher than those in the secondary market, as has been the case over the past 12 months. However, the total volume of residential transactions between January to April 2019 was 1% lower than the same period in 2018. Meanwhile, the volume of apartment transfers over Q1 2019 decreased by approximately nearly 15% compared to the same period in the past year.

There was an overall decline of 13.2% in average price annually this April, compared to a 9.2% annual decline recorded in January 2019. According to the House Price Index, the average villa/townhouse price decreased to AED 4.5 million, and the average apartment price remained stable at AED 1.7 million in April 2019 for the same selection of properties tracked since September 2015. House prices in the three months leading up to April were 4.9% lower, compared to the previous quarter.

DUBAI HOUSE PRICE (AED)

As of April 2019, apartment and villa/townhouse prices have declined by 19% and 20% respectively, compared to their prices of AED 2.1 million and AED 5.6 million in September 2015.

METHODOLOGY

Indices and average prices are produced for properties covering studio to three bedroom apartments and three to six bedroom villas across more than 20 master developments in Dubai. The data is drawn from a variety of sources including property transfers, MoUs and valuations and is based on the Property Monitor Index, a monthly data series starting from September 2015 for representative buildings within each community. Figures are currently calculated on the same basket of properties each month, which may vary in future, resulting in revisions to historical data.