UAE - October was another banner month for Dubai's booming real estate market, with the latest figures from Property Monitor showing that property sales prices in the emirate rose by 1.77% last month.

According to the Property Monitor Dynamic Price Index (DPI), the average property value in Dubai is now Dh1,065 per square foot, "a level last seen since the last market upturn in November 2013 and later revisited in March 2018," Property Monitor's monthly market report said Friday.

"The current market issues in North America, China and Europe are not currently affecting the Gulf region, where demand remains strong despite the dollar-dirham peg resulting in higher interest rates," the report said.

Sales transactions were unchanged from the previous month, down 0.7 percent to 8,626. Residential transactions - apartments, townhouses and villas - accounted for 92 percent of the total (7,935 sales transactions), while hotel apartments (3.4 percent), offices (1.9 percent) and land sales (1.7 percent) were the highest-volume commercial property types.

So far this year, 77,238 transactions have been registered (89.2% of which are residential), equivalent to 126% of the entire annual volume for 2021.

At the current annualized rate, Property Montior forecasts that sales will reach just over 92,000 and mark the second highest year in the history of the Dubai market.

Resale transactions also saw a significant increase. 3,467 transactions were recorded in October, representing 40.2% of the market share and a 4.2% month-on-month increase.

The jump in resale activity is likely due to an increase in secondary sales of off-plan properties, where in most cases the initial buyer cashed in with a premium," the report said.

The surge in new off-plan developments launched in October saw another 3,431 units enter the market for sale, with an estimated total sales value of around Dh12.3 billion.

Apartments accounted for 56 percent of these new projects, while townhouses and villas accounted for 31.3 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively. The report shows that just under 37,000 new projects with a total sales value of over Dh104 billion have been launched year-to-date.

Mortgage transactions in October surged to the highest level since September 2021, with 2,386 loans registered during the month.

The report predicts that Dubai's real estate market will continue to be healthy.

"Our analysis suggests that we are witnessing a multi-phase cycle, each driven by a different segment of the market, with more moderate price appreciation compared to the previous two-year upturn cycle of 2013-2014. We believe this could lead to a more sustainable and longer period of growth extending into mid to late 2023," the report said.

Zhann Jochinke, chief operating officer of Property Monitor, said." With no current signs of a slowdown in new development launches, the absorption of this new inventory will continue to be an area to watch closely. While the data shows that the market has been able to absorb a significant number of new units to date, almost every market cycle has been driven from growth to decline by a supply-demand imbalance, with supply increasing too quickly."