Dubai: A time to sell? A sizeable number of property investors in Dubai have plans to cash out this year as values record 15-35 per cent increases across freehold areas during 2021-22.
In fact, a substantial 52 per cent of property owners are mulling about a sale sometime in the next 10 months, according to a poll conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Metropolitan Homes. The belief comes from expectations that property price increases in Dubai are at or near the current peaks. (But there are also those who compare the market peaks of 2014 and say that today’s vaues have still some way to climb.)
According to the Metropolitan Homes-YouGov survey, which polled 300 UAE property owners during the first fortnight of January, 90 per cent of Dubai property owners would purchase another property in the emirate if they sold their existing one at a good premium. And 83 per cent said they made significant improvements since they bought, and with 15 per cent spending over Dh500,000 to renovate their property.
Spending big on renovations have helped in the luxury home space, with sellers netting significant returns as buyers insisted on paying a premium for ready homes. And ready homes with significant value-adds.
The ‘results are further indication that UAE homeowners are confident in Dubai as an established property market and that the level of planned activity in the secondary market will continue to fuel transaction volumes in the emirate’s real estate sector’, said Alina Adamco, Head of Sales, Metropolitan Homes.
The survey found 22 per cent of participants in the 45 plus age group having plans to retire and live in the UAE.
Ready home sales
Many property owners have already sold out and pocked significant gains in these two years. Many of the eye-catching Dh100 million and over sales were from individual sellers and not direct from developers.
“The current and projected market conditions are in favour of owners of Dubai residential properties if they are thinking to sell or rent their units as demand for ready property outperforms supply,” said Nikita Kuznetsov, Partner at Metropolitan Group and CEO of Metropolitan Premium Properties. “Last year, our secondary market transactions increased by 300 per cent so we expect that this trend will continue in the foreseeable future.”
