Dubai house prices were up 7.54% during the year to Q1 2022

The UAE’s housing market is now growing robustly again, amidst improving economic conditions. Residential property prices rose strongly by 7.54% in Q1 2022 from a year earlier, in sharp contrast to a y-o-y decline of 0.48% a year earlier. It was its fourth consecutive quarter of annual price increases after continuously falling from Q1 2015 to Q1 2021. During the latest quarter, house prices in Dubai increased 1.3% q-o-q.

 

Rosy outlook for Dubai’s housing market 

Property prices and rents in Dubai are expected to rise strongly this year, on the back of the emirate’s strong economy, according to the S&P Global Ratings report. High oil prices provide a boost to the positive investor sentiment in the GCC region.

Dubai's property market has been one of the world's most volatile. Dubai saw one of the world's worst housing crashes from Q3 2008 to Q3 2011 with house prices plunging by 53%. The housing market started to recover by end-2011 with prices rising by a total of 67% until Q4 2014. The housing market has been depressed since. It was only in the second half of 2021 that the housing market showed remarkable improvement.

Rents, rental yields: good yields in Dubai at 5.19%

Dubai apartments are costly at around $5,918 per sq. m. 

UAE: typical city centre apartment buying price, monthly rent (120 sq. m)
	Buying price	Rate per month	Yield
Dubai	$710,160	$3,070	5.19%

Recent news. The UAE’s economy grew by 2.3% in 2021 from a year earlier, still inadequate to full offset the 6.1% contraction recorded in 2020. Growth was buoyed the recent increase in oil prices and a gradual recovery in tourist arrivals. 

The economy is projected to expand by 4.2% this year, amidst strong gains in oil prices and increased oil output, coupled with high vaccination rollout and looser restrictions, according to the UAE’s Central Bank. Non-oil real GDP and real oil GDP are expected to grow by 3.9% and 5%, respectively.