DPM Reveals AED 31bn Real Estate Transactions for First Half of 2019 in Abu Dhabi

The Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities (DPM) has released its first biannual report on real estate transactions in Abu Dhabi for the first half of 2019. The report revealed there were 10.0K real estate transactions in the first half of the year, generating AED 31 billion across Abu Dhabi Emirate.

H.E. Falah Al Ahbabi, Chairman of the DPM, said: “These results demonstrate the buoyant real estate market in Abu Dhabi. These figures support our vision to further community happiness through sustainable urban growth and municipal services. We believe that these figures show investors how well the Abu Dhabi real estate market is performing; the Emirate remains highly competitive in this sector, home to some of the best properties and developments across the Middle East and North Africa region.

His Excellency added: “The release of this first indicators report is a continuation of our open approach aimed at raising transparency and enhancing the ease of doing business in the real estate market. Providing information to investors, real estate developers and landowners will enhance confidence and competitiveness regionally and internationally.”

Sales and Mortgages

The report revealed that the real estate sector has generated a total of 6,374 property transactions valued at more than AED 12.5 billion. The volume of mortgage transactions reflects the confidence of banks in the sector, with 3,712 mortgage transactions worth over AED 18.5 billion.

Traded Areas in Demand

In terms of geographic locations where sales activity was the most dynamic, Al Reem Island topped the list with transactions worth more than AED 4.371 billion, followed by Al Reef area with a value of over AED 1.788 billion of transactions and Yas Island with more than AED 1.597 billion worth of transactions.

That was followed by Al Shamkha City with AED 636 million of transactions, Khalifa City with AED 357 million of transactions and Al Faqa Area with AED 211 million of transactions.

In line with the Emirate’s vision to become one of the best places in the world to do business, invest, work, live, and visit, the Abu Dhabi Government modernized real estate laws in April 2019 to allow foreigner ownership of freehold property in designated investment zones. The change is designed to support and develop the business environment, increasing foreign direct investment and evolving Abu Dhabi’s economy into one that is even more dynamic.