2024 Real Estate Forecasts for Dubai

Amidst geopolitical and financial obstacles in other world investment markets, the property market in Dubai has performed strongly across all sectors, supported by the Emirate's favored haven position. Important data on the economy and population also show growth from the year before.

With almost 3.6 million residents at the end of June 2023, Dubai's population has increased by 1.4% from the previous year. Between January and November of 2023, there was a 19.9% rise in the number of visitor arrivals, totaling 15.4 million.

In addition, the GDP increased by 3.2% to AED 223.8 billion in the initial half of 2023, according to data. The industry that performed the best throughout this period was the shipping and storage sector, which expanded by 10.5%.

Hospitality

The hospitality industry continued to rebound in 2023 as major performance metrics showed growth over the prior year, including a total number of visitors that exceeded pre-pandemic levels. The average daily rate (ADR) in Dubai for FY 2023 was AED 692, up 0.2% year over year. The city's occupancy rate during the same period in 2022 was 72%. Compared to most other regional and global markets, this is higher.

Residential

The housing market has continued to rise, as seen by the historically high levels of transactions in 2023 and the increases in sales prices and rentals of 18% and 26%, respectively, year over year as of the same year. Comparing prices of villas and apartments to pre-pandemic levels, villa prices have increased more than apartment prices, but rent increases have followed suit. It is anticipated that this pattern will persist until 2024, however, the rate of increase may slow down even further when additional supply is introduced.

Retail

In Dubai, malls remain the most popular retail format, even in the face of the global upsurge in internet shopping. This is mostly because tourists like to visit these shopping and entertainment locations. Expected to expand by six percent between 2025 and 2027, retail sales in Dubai are expected to stay positive.

Office

Office rents have risen above pre-pandemic levels, with a 15% year-over-year increase in September 2023 over the same month the previous year. The success of the office market is expected to be supported in the future by the expectations for economic development in Dubai and ongoing efforts to make conducting business easier.

Industrial and Logistics

Demand from a variety of businesses, such as manufacturing, third-party logistics (3PL), and e-commerce, has driven an increase in warehouse rents in Dubai year over year. With the economy predicted to develop, there should be more room for expansion of business premises in Dubai. This is especially true given the Transportation and Storage sector's growth, which exceeded all other sectors in H1 2023.