Will Expo 2020 Dubai fuel demand for short-term properties?

Expo 2020 Dubai, which is slated to be held in October 2021, will potentially change the dynamics of Dubai's residential market, causing "increased transactions towards short term properties," Lynnette Abad, Director of Research and Data at Property Finder,

She said: "With Expo 2020 coming soon, we will have visitors who will stay in properties, and that will then bring short term properties into play. There will be an increase in transaction volumes for short term properties during this time."

Commenting on Dubai's real estate performance through 2020 and current performance, Abad said: "Q1 2021 began strong, just like we ended 2020. Transaction volumes have been higher month-on-month. We did see a shift from off-planned to secondary properties when the pandemic hit. Over the last two to three years, there was always a 50-50 split between off-planned and secondary transactions in the market. Around June-July, it shifted to about 70-30; 70% towards secondary and 30% towards off-planned.

We did start to see off-planned sales pick up a bit over the last month or so and that is because developers have now launched new phases within existing projects, which have sold out very quickly."

We had quite a few interesting off-planned transactions in the luxury sector that broke records.

She continued: "When it comes to the affordable sector, there are still a lot of opportunities, we have now seen increase in price and demand and a lack of supply. The market dynamics has changed significantly in the last few months. This is a great time to buy - luxury or affordable, but that timeframe is going to be very short."