Apartment prices in Dubai decrease 2.25% in July

Dubai: Apartment prices in Dubai witnessed a slight decline in July by 2.25 per cent, according to the sales price index of Dubai released by real estate information company Reidin.com.

According to data released for the month, the All Residential Sales Price Index shows a nominal decrease of 0.85 per cent against June 2010 figures, with villa prices declining 1.19 per cent month-on-month.

Apartments prices reflected a bigger decline as compared to villa prices in July as they recorded a decrease of 2.25 per cent.

However, July 2010 data signify a slim bump up in comparison with July 2009 prices, as the index registered an increase of 1.33 per cent year-on-year between July 2009 and July 2010.

The index dropped by 1.47 points in the second quarter of 2010 to a level of 174.74 basis points, a 0.84 per cent decrease from the second quarter 2009.

The apartment index declined by 5.23 per cent and the villa index increased by 6.99 per cent between the second quarters of 2009 and 2010.

Sales prices were down in the categories of "50 square metres and less, "51 to 100 square metres", "101 to 150 square metres" and "151 square metres and more".

Prices in the 50 square metres or less category witnessed the steepest drop against all other apartment size categories year-on-year, with a 10.98 per cent decrease from July 2009 prices and a 1.99 per cent decline from June 2010 figures.

Apartments belonging to the 101-150 square metres category held their price best, only decreasing 0.99 per cent year-on-year. As for month-on-month price appreciation, the average nominal price in this particular segment decreased by 1.52 per cent in July as compared to the previous month's data.

In July 2010, Reidin.com's sales price index was a mere 67.77 points (67.77 per cent) above its base value of 100 points in January 2003.