Luxury Home Sales Increase in Dubai as Prices Rise for Ninth Consecutive Month

July was the strongest month on record for Dubai’s luxury housing market, according to a report Wednesday from Cavendish Maxwell.

High-end homes, those priced at AED 10 million (US$2.7 million), grew to make up a 3.4% share of total home sales last month, up from 2.3% in June, according to Property Monitor, the data arm of Cavendish Maxwell.

There were 117 sales of prime properties in July, on par with the record set in May, the data showed. Villas accounted for 75 of those transactions, and an AED 121 million Jumeirah Bay Island villa that sold in July is now the most expensive home transacted in the emirate.

High demand for single-family homes, or villas, has put a strain on inventory, however, and is pushing people toward apartments. For example, in the popular Palm Jumeirah—a man-made, tree-shaped archipelago—30 of its 38 sales in July were for apartments, which is “a sharp contrast to the earlier trend of villas sales beating apartments,” the report said. 

Across the entire Dubai market, prices rose 1.9% in July, marking the ninth straight month of price growth, the data showed. Prices were up more than 15% in July compared to the same time in 2020, and have risen nearly 12% since the beginning of this year—a major turnaround following years of slumping home values. 

“The price trends recorded over the last few months show clear similarities with the previous market recovery phase in 2013, which stretched over two years,” Zhann Jochinke, COO of Property Monitor and author of the report, wrote. “If all else remains unchanged, we likely seem to be heading in the same direction, with the stage set for a strengthening market over the next couple of years before any future correction is likely.”

There were 4,455 transactions last month, the most for the month of July since at least 2009, the report said. Off-plan sales accounted for 1,820 sales, up 144% since the same time last year. 

Although sales of existing properties still outweigh those for new projects, off-plan deals are growing as developments get closer to launching. They accounted for about 41% of sales in July, compared to 28.4% in January. 

This article was originally published in Mansion Global.