Dubai property transactions up 63% amid ‘growing confidence’

The volume of property transactions in Dubai rose 63 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2013 amid “growing confidence from investors” according to real estate firm real Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

Both sales and rental prices in the office and residential sectors continued to increase, but are yet to reach their peak levels achieved in the third quarter of 2008, JLL said in its quarterly ‘Dubai Real Estate Market Overview’.

“The real estate investment market remains active with increased volumes of commercial and residential transactions as investment sentiment in Dubai continues to improve,” the report noted.

Despite the improvements, residential sales prices were still on average 18 percent lower than in the latter half of 2008, added JLL.

“Overall, the [Dubai] residential market appears to be experiencing a broad-based recovery in 2013 as prices and rents start to pick up in the affordable and secondary locations,” commented Alan Robertson, chief executive of JLL, in the report.

JLL forecasted continued improvements in the second half of 2013 and beyond, with 36,000 more residential units expected to be added to the current Dubai stock of 360,000 by the end of 2015.

Dubai office stock is predicted to increase by 1.4 million square meters by 2015, a near 20 percent capacity gain.

However, JLL voiced concerns over reluctance by some developers to launch projects.

“In reality, it is likely that much of this supply will not be delivered by its scheduled date as some developers, especially the ones with projects in areas with a large upcoming supply, remain reluctant to launch some of their units,” added Robertson.