UAE tops GCC in real estate deals

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

An economic report has highlighted the UAE topped Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, acquiring the highest share of the total value of real estate deals conducted during the first ten months of 2023, surpassing the expectations for the entire year of 2022.

The report, issued on Thursday by Kamco Invest company indicated that the value of real estate deals in the GCC countries reached $171.6 billion from January to October 2023, marking a growth of 21.1 percent annually as compared to $141.7 billion in the same period of 2022.

The report highlighted that Dubai accounted for 52.1 percent of the total value of real estate deals executed across all GCC countries. The value of real estate deals in Dubai surged by almost 57 percent annually during the first ten months of 2023, driven significantly by the rise in prices of leading developers and increased demand for luxury properties under construction for both single-family and multi-family homes valued at over Dhs5 million.

Additionally, the report pointed out that the value of real estate deals in Abu Dhabi jumped by 56 per cent during the first nine months of 2023. This contributed to the performance of the UAE markets in enhancing the overall value of real estate deals for the GCC countries during the first ten months of the current year, surpassing the estimates for the entire 2022, which stood at $165.8 billion.

Furthermore, according to Kamco Invest’s report, real estate stock indices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia continued their strong performance, witnessing significant gains during the first 11 months of the current year.

As per the Gulf real estate total yield index released by Refinitiv, the sector’s performance rose by 19.2 percent, surpassing the Morgan Stanley Gulf Index. This growth was propelled by the strong performance of real estate development indices in Dubai by 32.9 percent, Abu Dhabi by around 29 percent, and Saudi Arabia by 21.4 percent.