Apartment prices in Dubai witnessed the highest annual capital growth in a decade, a key index showed on Wednesday.
As residential property valuations in Dubai continued to witness growth in January, the ValuStrat Price Index (VPI) revealed apartment capital gains catching up with the villa market, mainly due to affordability constraints.
The VPI is a valuation-based price index constructed to represent periodic change in capital values and rental values experienced by typical residential and commercial properties.
High offplan sales within established communities taking up the majority of home sales during January 2024. The VPI grew 21.5 per cent annually, with a steady monthly increase of 2 per cent to achieve 160.6 points. Apartments were at 134 points, and villas at 201.4 points, this is compared to 100 points set in January 2021 and 172.5 points at the peak of 2014.
The apartment submarket saw capital gains accelerate 1.8 per cent monthly and expand 17 per cent annually, the report showed.
The best apartment performance compared to the same period last year was recorded in Discovery Gardens (28.5 per cent), Palm Jumeirah (26.5 per cent), The Greens (26.2 per cent), Al Quoz Fourth (20.9 per cent), Dubailand Residence Complex (20.6 per cent), and Dubai Production City (20.5 per cent). Villa capital gains were at 2.3 per cent when compared with December last year, and 26.4 per cent since last year.
The top annual performers were villas in Jumeirah Islands (34.2 per cent), Palm Jumeirah (33.8 per cent), Dubai Hills Estate (31.9 per cent), and Mudon (28.4 per cent). Off-plan Oqood (contract) registrations rose 10.4 per cent annually and recovered 284.9 per cent monthly after a weaker December. Ready homes transactions volume declined 14.3 per cent monthly but were still 22.4 per cent higher than the previous year, representing a minority share of 36.2 per cent of overall monthly residential unit sales.
January 2024 saw 22 transactions of ready properties priced over Dh30 million. These are located in Palm Jumeirah, District One, Jumeirah Bay Island, Emirates Hills, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Bluewaters Island, and Dubai Hills Estate.
Topping the sales charts overall last month were properties developed by Emaar (14.9 per cent), Damac (10.8 per cent), Nakheel (5.2 per cent), and Select Group (3.5 per cent).
Top off-plan locations transacted last month included projects located in Jumeirah Village Circle (13.5 per cent), Dubai Maritime City (9 per cent), Business Bay (8.8 per cent), and Dubai Hills Estate (5.5 per cent). The majority of ready homes sold were in Jumeirah Village Circle (10.3 per cent), Business Bay (10 per cent), International City (6.5 per cent), Dubai Marina (5.6 per cent), and Downtown Dubai (5 per cent).