April 2021 had the highest total sales transaction value since March 2017 in excess of AED10.98 billion. This is the highest value of property transactions in four years. April 2021 had 4,382 transactions worth AED 10.98 billion, 4.2 percent more than March 2021 in terms of volume and 0.6 percent more in terms of value. This brings the year to April total to 16,577 transactions worth AED 36.12 billion.
In April, 70 percent of the total transactions were up to AED 2M, while 23 percent were between AED 2M to 5M, four percent were between AED 5M to 10M and 3 percent above AED 10M.
Interestingly, one of the major trends seen in April was in Mohammed bin Rashid City where we saw most transactions in a single community recorded. Followed by Jumeirah Village Circle, accounting for 5.8 percent of all transactions and Dubai Marina with 5.6 percent of all transactions. In addition, Business Bay, which has dominated the top two spots for the most number of monthly sales in a community for the past year, fell from 7.2 percent of total transactions in a single month to 3.5 percent. Falling from number one on the ranking to number 10.
In April 2021, 60 percent of sales transactions were for secondary/ready properties and 40 percent were for off-plan properties. When we look at the volume of transactions, the off-plan market transacted 1,934 properties worth a total of AED 3.09 billion and the secondary market transacted 2,898 properties worth a total of AED 7.89 billion. Comparing this to March 2021, the number of off-plan sales transactions in April increased by 12.9 percent, the highest in 14 months and the secondary/ready property transactions decreased for the first time in 11 months by 0.92 percent.
Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen apartment prices decline. This is partially due to more affordable housing coming into the market, more supply of apartments completed and an increase in demand shifting to villa/townhouses.
In the villas/townhouses sector, 18.5 percent of all sales in April 2021 took place in Mohammed bin Rashid City, followed by Dubailand (10.3 percent), Dubai Hills Estate (9.4 percent), Rukan (5 percent) and Town Square(4.9 percent). Looking at apartments, 8.5 percent of all sales transactions took place in Dubai Marina followed by Jumeirah Village Circle (8.4 percent), Jumeirah Lake Towers (7.6 percent), DownTown Dubai (7.3 percent) and Business Bay (5.4 percent) according to data from Property Finder.
According to proprietary Property Finder demand data, the top areas of interest in terms of searches for villas/townhouses in April 2021 were Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches, Palm Jumeirah, Mohamed bin Rashid City and Damac Hills. As for apartments for the same period, the top areas of interest were Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay and Jumeirah Village Circle.
