The number of daily cases of coronavirus in the United Arab Emirates peaked at the beginning of 2021, stopping at around 4,000 cases. In the future, a downward trend began to develop, reaching double-digit values by the end of November. In January 2022, a new peak was recorded (3,000 people), but today daily cases do not exceed 400 cases. An established system of medical care and public vaccination successfully contain any local outbreaks of the disease.
Despite the fact that the acute phase of COVID-19 has long ended, residents and foreign buyers of residential real estate in Dubai still have a strong preference for buying large, spacious properties. This is also true for tenants who are looking for large housing on the market en masse. Such real estate is still considered by many as a necessity. For someone it is a kind of work employment, and for someone it is a good asset for a safe investment of large savings.
The growth in demand for large-sized objects has been exponential and still does not decrease among wealthy categories of buyers. However, the reverse situation is more and more clearly observed among buyers with more modest savings. The shortage of large housing on the market pushes prices up, pushing less wealthy foreigners and residents of the emirate out of the sector. The broad consumer base has been actively looking for smaller housing in recent months, both for purchase and rent.
Among the various groups of demand at the moment, the category of fairly young people who have flooded the UAE thanks to affordable and flexible opportunities for obtaining resident visas stands out. Most of them have the means to buy large apartments in the heart of the city, in areas such as Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Dubai Marina and JLT. Business-oriented areas with easy access to retail, various leisure places, such as restaurants and nightclubs are the main directions for the migration of young buyers.
In general, representatives of the sector point out that the pandemic has significantly affected the market, changed the structure of demand and forced most people to hunt for housing with a more open structure and more living space. The pandemic has receded, but new global challenges are still challenging the UAE. At the moment, the country is trying to accept a large number of wealthy Russians, Ukrainians and Europeans — people with impressive fortunes who are also interested in the most expensive, elite and large apartments and villas.
Against the background of the influx of foreigners, apartment rental rates in the second quarter increased by 16-23% in the elite category and by 4-19% in the affordable category, depending on the area. In some areas, the increase in rental rates reached 40% per quarter.
It is worth pointing out about the reasons for the attractiveness of the villas. This housing attracts people primarily with a large number of related amenities: gardens, sports areas, walking paths and much more. In addition, villas are usually located in well-equipped and self-sufficient communities with many public spaces, educational institutions, medical organizations.
