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28 March 2024

18.3% price increase puts Dubai among world's hottest property markets

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

Property prices in Dubai rose 18.3 per cent in the past one year (March 2012 to March 2013), with the emirate maintaining it’s position among the top five best performing real estate markets in the world, according to a new report.

According to Knight Frank’s first quarter 2013 Prime Global Cities Index, the emirate is ranked fourth in the list of 29 global cities. Prices rose 5.4 per cent in the last three months (December 2012 to March 2013), the third highest in among the global cities compared.

Ranked higher than prime markets such as Monaco, London, Hong Kong and Moscow, Dubai is to the only city from the Middle East on the list.

Jakarta, Bangkok and Miami topped the table, recording annual price growth of 38.1 per cent, 26.1 per cent and 21.1 per cent respectively.

Cities in Asia, North America and the Middle  East continue to dominate the top half of the  results table while seven of the bottom ten  rankings are occupied by European cities, according to the report.


Kate Everett-Allen, International Residential Research at Knight Frank, said: “A typical prime property is now worth 21.3 per cent more than it was in Q2 2009 when Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index hit its post-Lehman low.”

Eight cities recorded double digit price  growth in the year to March including stellar  performances by the European cities of St  Petersburg and Monaco. The price of luxury  homes in Monaco increased by 10 per cent in the  first three months of 2013 as international  interest swelled and the supply of apartments,  particularly above €10 million, proved limited.

Prime prices across the 29 cities tracked by the index increased by 3.6 per cent in the year to March 2013. However, prime property prices fell on average by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2013.

A report by Deutsche Bank said property prices in Dubai witnessed a 6.2 per cent growth in the first three months of 2013. Apartment prices remain between 43 and 61 per cent below peak with villa prices between 12 and 49 per cent below peak prices.

Dubai 'affordable'

The Wealth Report 2013, produced by Knight Frank, a global property company, reveals that Dubai's prime luxury properties are much over 10 times lower than Monaco, the world's most expensive residential property market.

According to the report, prices for properties in Dubai ranged between $520 and $580 per square feet in fourth quarter 2012 compared to prices of between $5,350 and $5,920 per square feet in Monaco during the same period last year.

Earlier this year, Craig Plumb, Head of Research, JLL Mena, while announcing the “Top Trends for the UAE real estate market in 2013”, said: “Price and rent recovery are likely to be more broader this year than 2012 when it was limited to few selected locations. We saw price growth in Dubai by 20 per cent in 2012... we will not see prices increasing 20 per cent this year, but overall rate of growth will be less than last year.”

Property transactions in the first quarter rose 63 per cent to Dh44 billion compared to the same quarter last year. In 2012, the total value of transactions rose 8 per cent to reach Dh154 billion compared to Dh143 billion in 2011.

Last year, UAE nationals had topped the list of investors in Dubai’s real estate market while Indians of topped the list of expat buyers, following by Brits, Pakistanis and Iranians.  Besides, the beginning of the year a number of real estate projects have been launched by state owned and private developers.

Mega projects launched

One of the largest project's to date in the year was launched last month by Meydan Group and Sobha Group.   With a market value of Dh21 billion, Mohammed Bin Rashid City - District One will have 1,500 luxury villas, a 350,000 square metres water park, the largest crystal lagoon body of water in the world with seven kilometre of lagoons and man-made beaches, retail zones, leisure and sports attractions, the developer’s said.

Mohammad Bin Rashid City, comprises a theme park equipped to receive 35 million visitors and a family centre for leisure and entertainment set up in collaboration with Universal Studios, the world’s largest shopping mall and will have over 100 hotel facilities to meet the needs of visitors.