Still think Dubai is headed for another real estate bubble? April's real estate transactions should ease your mind – sales dropped by a staggering 51 percent compared with the previous year. Three cheers for... good news? We think so.
The latest figures from the Dubai Land Department, which also showed a 37 percent decrease in total value of transactions, showed that only 7,311 sales were completed in April.
While such a staggering drop would be worrying in most locales, it's not entirely unexpected – or unwelcome – in Dubai.
Last year, with fears rising of another looming property bubble, Dubai increased transactions fees and put in place new, tougher mortgage requirements. The move came after property values rose 20 percent in 2013 .
Analysts have warned that there will likely be a price correction soon.
“A fall in volumes is a good leading indicator that prices will fall and we expect that to continue for the rest of this year. Last April the market was still booming, so any year-on-year figures will reflect that fact,” Craig Plumb, the head of research at JLL’s Dubai office, told The National .
Still, with analysts projecting anywhere from a 5 percent to a 20 percent correction this year, it's a far cry from the 60 percent drop after the crash of 2009.