Property Finder, the region’s leading property portal, has seen a massive uptick in Dubai-based real estate transactions during the first few months of 2020. This came ahead of recent concerns of COVID-19 becoming heightened, and the portal are hoping for this level to maintain although it is very difficult to predict.
The latest Dubai Land Department transactions update reveals a 12% rise in overall transactions in January 2020, compared to January 2019, but February saw an enormous 33% hike in transactions compared to February 2019 – and an incredible 76% rise in off-plan transactions.
February 2020 alone saw 504 off-plan villa transactions and 2,251 off-plan apartment transactions. Dubai Land Department transactions registry for February shows 4,356 sale transactions – with a total value of AED 9.4 billion.
Ari Kesisoglu, Property Finder’s President, said: “These powerful figures speak for themselves. We have seen a huge surge in interest in off-plan transactions – which underlines the strong faith that local, regional and international buyers have in Dubai, it’s developers and build quality. Undeniably, we believe the upsurge in interest year-on-year shows that Dubai’s economy remains globally significant, and Expo 2020 is causing a noticeable spike in property purchases ahead of the October event.”
Big ticket sales concluded in February include an AED700.2 million purchase deal for the iconic Shangri-La Dubai hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road; while a luxurious seven-bedroom luxury villa in Dubai Hills saw a sale value of AED75 million. Later in February, another seven bedroom property, also in Dubai Hills, reached a sale figure of AED69 million.
The most popular off-plan apartment projects sold in February 2020 were Creek Beach, Dubai Creek Harbour, selling 140 units, and Burj Crown, Downtown which saw eager purchasers take 139 units.
Off-plan villa projects proving most popular in February were situated in the well-established Arabian Ranches 3 area and the up and coming Dubai South (Dubai World Central) zone – notably the closest district to the Dubai Expo 2020 site.
President Ari Kesisoglu noted: “Location is crucial, and Dubai has a community for everyone – for single, young, and for large local families. Our newly-launched innovative map search tools make it easier than ever before to search and find the perfect area to live in – whether you are familiar with the emirate or not.”
The real estate portal has launched four new map-based features, available on desktop and mobile, allowing users to search for homes and compare prices via the map, as well as view nearby amenities and calculate travel distances.