Mubasher: Dubai’s residential market saw “little or no movement” in sales or rents, leading to a flat performance in Q2-16, according to a report by Chestertons MENA.
However, landlords continued to benefit from solid rental yields, especially those owning apartments in Discovery Gardens (10.2%), International City (9.4%) and Dubai Silicon Oasis (7.9%), while apartments returned 7.5% gross yield across the board on average.
In terms of villa yields, the average across Dubai was 4.8%, but the stand out performers were the Springs (6.4%), Jumeirah Village Triangle (5.9%) closely followed by Victory Heights (5.8%).
“Overall, apartments tend to provide a higher average yield than villas and especially those in the more affordable developments,” according to Chestertons managing director Declan McNaughton.
The resilient performance in apartment yields was all the more “impressive” despite lower rental rates on average 0.95% in Q2, while sales prices were up 0.7% on average squeezing margins.
“Transactions in the second quarter were down just 6% at AED 26 billion, compared with the previous quarter, however, sales transactions were up 17.5%. After a solid beginning to the year, when mortgage approvals jumped by over 50%, Q2 actually witnessed a 20% fall by comparison,” the statement highlighted.
