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Living in your dream home in Dubai, while shifting responsibility for all the problems and repairs to the landlord, seems like a tempting option. Besides, renting a home costs less in terms of time, efforts and money. But why do experts are continuously advised paying attention to the sales sector in case they’re planning to stay in Dubai for a long time?
Long-term benefits
Though renting a home in Dubai may seem rather attractive, buying a home in the current market situation may, in fact, be a more profitable option in the long term. Buying an apartment or a house in Dubai is definitely worth contemplating in case you plan to stay here for at least five to seven years and can afford paying the costs of buying and selling transactions.
The cost of buying a home includes a 25 percent down payment for a first-time purchase in Dubai, 4 percent of DLD’s registration fee, plus various additional processing and admin overheads.
Real estate units under construction (off-plan), as a rule, require accumulating up to 50 per cent of the housing cost on your account, although many property developers recently started coming forward with attractive payment plans upon handover or post-handover, which amounts to 75-80 per cent of the purchase price. This makes off-plan real estate really attractive, considering also that capital appreciation usually occurs during handover. Therefore, many investors now see opportunities for capital growth in this market situation, and former tenants are increasingly turning to landlords.
Attractive market
During 18 months of the year, as of July, Dubai Land Department registered 63,903 real estate transactions in the emirate, with a total cost of USD23 billion. UAE’s real estate market attracts expatriates primarily because of its price, which is greatly lower than prices for similar housing units in New York, Hong Kong or London. The average housing cost in Dubai Dh1,000 per square foot (psf), while in other global cities, it could reach as high as USD1,000 (Dh3,670) psf.
In Dubai, any type of property can be a good investment. Studios in areas such as , , , or are easily leased out and easily sold.
In the meantime, official market statistics indicated that the value of real estate shares traded on the UAE stock markets during the first nine months of the year amounted to AED43.8 billion, accounting for 34.6 percent of the total transactions conducted on the country's two main bourses since the beginning of the year, which is estimated at AED126.6 billion. This too reflects the investors' growing confidence in Dubai real estate sector, especially at the background of high volatility suffered by other UAE’s economic sectors.
