New figures show that property prices in Dubai have fallen for the second consecutive quarter – a further sign that the emirate’s booming property market is starting to stabilise.
Two separate new reports, released by real estate agencies Jones Lang LeSalle and Cavendish and Maxwell, reveal that villa prices fell by 2-2.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, while apartment prices declined by 1 and 2 per cent in the same period.
Property prices in Dubai had been recording consistent double-digit growth since 2011, following a market crash in the late noughties.
However, neither agency believes that the slowing prices will spark a crash in the property market this time. Between 2008 and 2011, property prices in Dubai fell by as much as 60 per cent in some areas, but this time the falls will remain at minimal levels.
“The extent of the compression will be better established throughout the third quarter and leading up to Cityscape Dubai where the activity at and preceding the event is typically a good gauge of market sentiment,” stated the Cavendish and Maxwell report, based on the consensus view of its members, who are chartered surveyors and residential valuers.
The JLL report, meanwhile, noted that the number of residential sale transactions registered with the Dubai Land Department in the first half of this year declined by 69 per cent compared to the same time last year, while the aggregate value fell by 66 per cent.
Like Cavendish and Maxwell, though, JLL were not overly concerned by these figures.
“These levels of decline in transaction activity have resulted in a single digit decline in sale prices, contrary to the major declines seen in 2008/2009, reflecting signs that Dubai’s market is maturing,” the report said.