Let me present some numbers to you.
* In 2020, properties valued at over Dh5 million accounted for around 5 per cent of total sales in Dubai. So far this year, such homes have accounted for 6.6 per cent.
* In January 2020, homes whose price exceeds Dh7 million saw 30 properties being transacted, with Dh351 million generated. This year, January saw such sales more than and creating Dh861 million. In February last year, such sales totalled 58 properties for Dh619 million, while this year’s tally for the month was 62 properties and Dh768 million.
* And if we fast-forward to April, last month saw 100 properties of Dh7 million plus changing hands for Dh1.69 billion. The same last year was 41 homes and Dh514 million, which are subdued numbers because of the state of the market with COVID-19 impacting on demand.
Piling into villas
We are noticing a significant improvement as the market speed up emergence from the pandemic, and in particular, seeing this in the sale of villas, townhouses, apartments with a sea view, and ultra-luxurious apartments such as the Bvlgari Residences on Jumeirah Bay Island and District One villas.
The reason is that the UAE has been proactive in dealing with the pandemic. Not to mention the high agility in introducing well-defined rules that helped in keeping the pandemic under control. This contributed to reopening doors in Dubai, particularly to tourists, when most countries were still suffering from closures.
Due to the high travel costs during the pandemic, only those with money can travel from Europe - and Dubai has emerged at the top of the list of choice destinations. Given the world-class infrastructure and lifestyle on offer, the city has become an attraction for the world's wealthy. We have noticed a major spike in demand from France, Germany, Israel and China in addition to existing inflows from Russia, Pakistan, England and India.
For us at fam Properties, the first four months have seen Dh1 billion from over 600 leasing transactions and 350 sales transactions, as well as 150 deals on barter via property swaps between two prominent real estate investors.
