Dubai property sees selective gains, and sellers at Springs and Palm are benefiting

Dubai: Dubai property prices rising again? Depends on where you are looking.

According to Lewis Allsop of Allsop & Allsop, selective gains are showing up at The Springs. “We have a 2E that we sold eight months ago for Dh2 million that we have just re-sold for Dh2.07 million. “This may seem a small increment - but for the last six years we haven’t witnessed this kind of activity.“

It’s not the only one – another one (a 3M) at the same community that was hovering at the Dh1.5 million mark is now pushing past Dh1.67 million.

“At the same time there are still a lot of areas where we aren’t seeing this pattern emerge,” he said. “I’m not going to say the market is on the rise - but it’s certainly worth paying attention to. It could well be that we start seeing and talking about the property market by certain areas or property types, rather than making broad statements to cover the Dubai market as a whole.

The upfront payment for a property is the lowest it has been for six years and the monthly cost of a mortgage is also the lowest it has been - sometimes lower than a monthly rent payment. This has enabled a lot of people to get on the property ladder."

The Palm effect

The Palm, where two super-premium villas are currently on sale for Dh120 million and Dh200 million, are recording interest from buyers looking for smoething slightly more within their budgets.

“Our Palm Jumeirah specialist has a number of buyers looking for a property with a budget of Dh7.5 million,” said Allsop. “Two months ago, he would have had seven or eight properties he could show the client - right now, he has none. All fairly-priced villas on the Palm are being snapped up right away.

"Far from being a market that is oversupplied, we are seeing an overwhelming undersupply in many areas. This in turn, in some cases, is seeing prices being impacted."