Dubai Real Estate Market Report — May, 2021

Dubai Real Estate Market Report – May 2021

May 2021 marked the first complete May that Dubai's property market had traded since the pandemic lockdowns were lifted, and the recovery proved decisive. Spanning every property type, 4,416 transactions were sealed for a total of AED 11.11 billion — each a May record across the eight-year series — struck at a blended median of AED 946/sqft.

Leaving plots to one side, the apartment, villa and commercial segments on their own registered 4,202 deals worth AED 9.58 billion, as volume rose 217% and value 390% against May 2020. Part of why those annual jumps appear so dramatic is that the comparison base had been gutted by the lockdown, yet the record outright totals confirm this was a true peak rather than a statistical mirage.

Headline figures

Year-on-year performance by category

Apartments powered the growth. The segment recorded 2,948 sales — its strongest May volume since 2014 and a 166% rise over the year before — bringing in AED 4.51 billion, up 233%. Yet the trading occurred at the series' cheapest point: the median eased to AED 1,039/sqft, 29% lower year-on-year and 14% beneath 2014, the lowest May price per square foot in the eight-year run. With the typical ticket softening 12% to AED 916,187, it was affordability rather than scarcity drawing buyers, and apartments by themselves contributed 1,840 more deals than the previous May.

Villas tell the reverse price story. Transactions leapt 498% to 1,112, the highest May figure in the whole series, and value soared 704% to AED 4.57 billion — just pipping apartments to make villas the market's biggest segment by value on a fraction of the deal count. Here prices strengthened rather than slipped: the median hit AED 791/sqft, 21% higher year-on-year and 17% above 2014, its best May since 2017. The median villa ticket rose 40% to AED 2,383,888, the sharpest signal of the post-lockdown flight to space, on 926 more villa deals than a year before.

Commercial was the smallest yet most volatile segment. Its 142 deals, up 344%, delivered AED 490.38 million — a 1506% value surge that reveals more about how sparse activity had been twelve months earlier than about any commercial boom. Pricing edged back to AED 710/sqft, up 13%, though still 32% below its 2014 mark, while the median ticket climbed 43% to AED 698,650 on a base of merely 110 additional deals versus the prior May.

Every category, including plots and buildings

Plots, which fall outside the apartment-villa-commercial tallies, contributed a further 214 sales worth AED 1.53 billion. At a median ticket of AED 2,788,000 — the biggest of any category — and just AED 519/sqft, land kept trading in sizeable lots, highlighting developer and end-user appetite for ground-up villa and low-rise schemes.

Primary versus resale

Primary sales set the tempo, delivering 60% of volume and 57% of value — 2,508 deals worth AED 5.41 billion. Resale made up the remaining 1,694 transactions and AED 4.17 billion, and punched above its weight on price, claiming 43% of value from only 40% of volume — a three-point spread that hints at higher-value stock trading on the secondary market.

Where the activity was

Marsa Dubai headed both measures. It led the value table at AED 1.34 billion, ahead of Palm Jumeirah (AED 1.25 billion) and Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (AED 1.22 billion), with Downtown Dubai (AED 813.52 million) and Al Merkadh (AED 429.07 million) completing the front-runners. On deal count Marsa Dubai again placed first with 515, trailed by Al Thanyah Fifth (382), Al Barsha South Fourth (377), Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid (265) and Business Bay (200).

Rental market

The leasing market mirrored the sales divide. New apartment contracts climbed 72.34% to 9,420 and new commercial contracts rose 151.60% to 1,258, yet apartment rents eased — the new median dropped 6.98% to AED 40,000 and renewals fell 19.64% to AED 45,000. Villa rents went the other way, the new median rising 9.52% to AED 115,000 and its rate per square foot up 18.18% to AED 39/sqft, reinforcing that tenants, like buyers, were paying more for villa space even as apartment leasing loosened.

Supply

The development pipeline sprang back to life. Developers launched 2,242 units across 17 projects while 1,247 units were completed across 6 — a launch-to-delivery ratio of 1.8 and a net 995 more units brought to market than delivered, a clear sign that confidence had returned to new starts.

Launched

• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 21 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 42 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 26 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, District One Phase Iii, Residences 19 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 42 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 31 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 42 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 25 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units
• Sobha Hartland Waves – Al Merkadh (Sobha), 671 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 30 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units
• Arabian Ranches Lll - Caya 2 – Wadi Al Safa 5 (Emaar), 247 units
• Murooj Al Furjan 2 – Jabal Ali First (Nakheel), 350 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, District One Phase Iii, Residences 29 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 28 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units
• Aras Residence – Wadi Al Safa 3 (Aras Development), 96 units
• Zazen One – Al Barsha South Fifth (Zazen), 86 units
• Murooj Al Furjan 1 – Jabal Ali First (Nakheel), 266 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 20 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 42 units
• The Estate - Ii – Jabal Ali First (Invest Group Overseas), 40 units
• Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City , District One Phase Iii , Residences 27 – Al Merkadh (Meydan), 53 units

Delivered

• Bellevue Towers-2 – Downtown Dubai (Dubai Properties), 377 units
• The 50 – Wadi Al Safa 3 (Trigono), 60 units
• Living Garden Ii – Al Barsha South Fourth (Lootah), 123 units
• The Pulse Boulevard Apartments - C3 – Dubai South (Dubai South), 158 units
• Bayz Tower – Business Bay (Danube), 463 units
• Edmonton Elm – Al Barsha South Fifth (Pacific Ventures), 66 units

Most expensive sales

Top apartment sales

1. AED 26,877,658 – Vida Residence Downtown, Downtown Dubai
2. AED 23,112,000 – Bahar 6, Jbr, Marsa Dubai
3. AED 21,000,000 – The Address Jbr 2 (Jumeirah Gate Tower 2), Marsa Dubai
4. AED 20,000,000 – Palme Couture Residences, Palm Jumeirah
5. AED 13,500,000 – Bulgari Residences 1, Jumeirah Bay Islands

Top villa sales

1. AED 81,000,000 – Palm Jumeirah
2. AED 60,000,000 – Emirates Living
3. AED 50,500,000 – Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
4. AED 30,500,000 – Me'Aisem First
5. AED 19,500,000 – Jumeirah Bay Islands

Notes on methodology

Scope. The headline totals and the category table span every property category captured in the data, Plot and Building included. The primary/resale split, top-area rankings and the year-on-year series cover Apartment, Villa and Commercial alone, so those numbers are intentionally smaller than the headline and should not be summed across sections.

Rounding. The headline totals are the definitive rounded figures. Category-level breakdowns are rounded on their own and may not add up precisely to the headline.

Definitions. Price figures represent medians rather than averages. Year-on-year sets the period against the matching period a year before. All values are in AED; areas in square feet.