Market Insights: May 2023

Off-plan sales boom in tier 2 communities with prices per sq.ft. dramatically higher

The surge returns. After some seasonal slowdown in April, the appetite for Dubai property investment was well and truly back in May 2023.

No doubt sales volumes were expedited by the realisation of the fastest rate of property price appreciation seen in Dubai for over 2 years. That growth of 2.51% in May, has not been witnessed since March 2014 and means that investors are now factoring in a price per square foot of AED 1,153. The Property Monitor May data reveals the September 2014 peak of the last market cycle is just 80 AED short.

May 2023 saw substantial movement from the 3m to 5m AED tier with stock from Dubai Habor entering the market. The 2% shift means the tier now accounts for the 2nd largest portion of the market - 14.1%. That said, despite a small reverse of 0.8% the slightly more affordable 2m to 3m tier remains the most prolific heading into H2, accounting for 16.8% of the Dubai property market.

Other significant entries in May were the units of Bluewater Bay on Bluewater Islands, Ellington Beach House and Luce on Palm Jumeirah - all landing in the 4,000 to 5,000 AED per sq ft mark.

Investors should note that the budget end of the market continued to shrink and the 3 tiers at the top end of the market all picked up share, with 5m to 10m AED and 10m+ AED picking up 0.6% and 0.8% respectively.

This appears to be correlated with the developer shift to the prime luxury end of the market and the fact appreciation is underpinning all tiers currently.

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