ABU DHABI —Abu Dhabi property market experienced marginal decreases in the new year, Abu Dhabi Q1 2019 Property Market Report by Bayut.com revealed. The high ROI and large portfolio of affordable properties in Abu Dhabi’s emerging areas have led to a high amount of interest in the capital’s property market. In Q1 of 2019, the Abu Dhabi property market has seen sales and rental prices experience marginal decreases on average for both apartments and villas compared to the prices seen in Q4 of 2018. Areas such as MBZ City and Khalifa City A are attracting a significant amount of interest from both tenants and investors, as can be seen from the high volume of searches in these areas. A number of factors can be attributed to this positive trend, including delivery of prominent off-plan projects resulting in increased investor confidence.
Sales highlights
• Al Reem Island is highly in-demand for apartment sales offering an ROI of 6.9%. Within Al Reem Island, Marina Square was the most-searched-for building by potential investors.
• Al Reef continues as the most popular area for villa sales with Al Reef Villas attracting the most attention from potential investors. The average ROI for villas in Al Reef is at 7.1% for Q1 2019
• The most significant changes for apartments are for 1-beds in Al Raha Beach, where the prices fell by 6.5% from an average of AED 1.1M in Q4 to AED 1.03M now. This is followed by a 5.9% decrease in prices for 1-bedroom units in Al Reef from AED 680k to AED 640k.
• Similarly, for villas, there was a 6.2% decrease in sale prices for 5-bedroom villas in Al Reef from AED 2.27M to AED 2.13M.
• Another notable price change for sales is an increase of 6.3% for 2-bedroom apartments in Al Ghadeer from AED 800k in Q4 to AED 850k in this quarter, which could be attributed to the handover of a number of off-plan units in the area.
Rental highlights
• This time Mohammed Bin Zayed City (MBZ City) takes the crown in both apartment and villa rentals in Abu Dhabi with Zone 20 and Mohamed Bin Zayed Centre being the most popular sub-communities respectively.
• In terms of average rental prices for apartments, the most significant changes are for 2-bedroom units in MBZ City which experienced a 10% drop from AED 58k in Q4 to AED 50k in the present quarter. This was followed by a 9.4% decrease for 2-bed units in Corniche Road from AED 127k in the last quarter of 2018 to AED 115k in Q1 2019.
• For villas rentals, 3-bedroom units in Al Muroor dropped in rental prices by 8.3% from AED 120k in Q4 2018 to AED 110k now. This is followed by 3-bed units in Saadiyat Island, where prices fell by 7.7% from AED 325k to AED 300k in the first quarter of 2019.
Apartment sales
Continuing the trend seen in Q4 of 2018, the sale prices for apartments in Al Reem Island remain largely stable with marginal decreases. The average prices for studios, 1-bed and 2-beds stand at AED 600k and AED 872.1k and 1.45M respectively.
A large majority of the areas did not experience any significant changes in sales prices for Q1 2019. The only notable price difference is for 1-beds in Al Raha Beach where the prices dropped by 6.5% from AED 1.1M in Q4 2018 to AED 1.03M now. This is followed by 1-bed units in Al Reef where prices dropped by 5.9% from AED 680k to AED 640k.
There were also minimal changes for a few units in Al Ghadeer and Al Reef. In Al Ghadeer, average prices for studios decreased by 4.8%, from AED 420k to AED 400k and for Al Reef the 2-bedroom apartments decreased by 3.7% from AED 830k to AED 799k. As for the other popular areas like Yas Island and prices across the board remained constant at AED 800k, AED 1.2M and 1.95M for studios, 1-bed and 2-bed units respectively.
Apartment Rentals
Within MBZ City, the notable changes are a 10% drop for 2-bed units from AED 58k in Q4 to AED 50k now. As for studios and 1-beds, the prices are at AED 25.5k and AED 42k respectively.
The next noticeable price change is for the 2-bed units in Corniche Road, where the average rents have fallen by 9.4% from AED 127k to AED 115k. This was followed by a 7.1% decrease in 2-bed units in Al Muroor and Al Nahyan where the average prices went from AED 75k to AED 65k in both cases.
Some units in Al Khalidiyah, Khalifa City A and Hamdan Street also experienced declines at the 6% mark. For Al Khalidiyah prices for 2-bed units went from AED 75k in Q4 2018 to AED 70k in the present quarter.
— SG
The prices for studios in Khalifa City A went from AED 30k to AED 28k. As for Hamdan Street, 2-bed units went down from AED 75k to AED 70k.
Other popular areas such as Al Reem Island experienced changes between the 0-5% mark while prices for apartment units in Airport Street have remained unchanged.
Villa Sales
When compared to Q4 2018, Al Reef continues to gather high interest from investors looking to buy villas in Abu Dhabi. The most significant price changes here are a 6.2% decrease for the 5-bed units from AED 2.27M to AED 2.13M and a 4.6% drop for 3-bed units from AED 1.52M to AED 1.45M. Average sale prices for the 4-bed units remained unchanged at AED 1.98M.
The sale prices for villas in other popular areas like Saadiyat Island and Yas Island have also remained stable with only minimal decreases, while 3-bedroom units in Khalifa City A have experienced no change and stand at AED 4.3M.
Villa Rentals
Pushing Khalifa City A to the second position, MBZ City has emerged as the more popular choice for renters in Q1. Here the rental prices have experienced decreases within a 3% margin, and are at AED 95k for 3-beds, AED 130k for 4-beds and AED 145k for 5-bed units.
Following the trend in Q4 2018, prices for 5-bedroom units in Al Muroor went down by 8.3% from AED 120k to AED 110k. In the same area 4-bedroom units also saw a decrease from AED 150k to AED 140k. Other notable price changes include a 7.7% decrease for 3-bedroom villas in Saadiyat Island from AED 325k to AED 300k.
This is followed by declines at the 6% mark for villas in Al Raha Gardens and Khalifa City A. The 3-bedroom villas in Al Raha Gardens dropped from AED 155k to AED 145k now, and 4-bed villas Khalifa City A went from AED 160k to AED 150k.
As for the villas in Shakhbout City (Khalifa City B) and Al Karamah, they have seen no change in prices from Q4 2018.
Most Popular Villa Sub Communities
For villas sales, Al Reef Villas brought in the most searches in Al Reef at 99.8%. Potential investors are also leaning towards Mohamed Bin Zayed Centre as their first choice for buying villas in MBZ City as it accounts for 87.9% of overall interest.
For villa rentals, the sub-communities of Mohamed Bin Zayed Centre in MBZ City and Villa Compound in Khalifa City A are at a tie for the top spot accounting for 74% of searches by tenants. HIDD Al Saadiyat in Saadiyat Island is the next most popular sub-community gathering 55.4% of the searches.
Most Popular Off-Plan Projects
Yas Island, Saadiyat Island, Al Reem Island, Al Raha Beach and Al Salam Street are the top five off-plan communities in Abu Dhabi.
Within Yas Island, the sub-community of Yas Acres has attracted the most attention from investors, accounting for 53.1% of the searches. As for Saadiyat Island, the sub-community of Park View brought in 33% of the searches.
Haider Ali Khan, CEO of Bayut, said: “The Abu Dhabi property market has undergone tremendous changes in the last two years, with several high profile off-plan projects being handed over and more luxury properties entering the market, particularly in waterfront communities such as Yas Island and Saadiyat Island. We have also seen a high number of prospective buyers searching for luxury properties in these areas, along with other upscale neighborhoods such as Al Reem Island. Most decreases in the capital have remained modest with changes largely falling within the 5-6% margin. Another interesting trend is the increased popularity for communities such as Khalifa City A, Shakhbout City and Al Ghadeer which are all ideally located for those commuting to Dubai. We can expect these trends to carry on into the summer, and perhaps even see increases when more handovers are completed in the second half of the year. — SG
