Commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has released its Dubai Annual Market Update 2023/2024.
As of 2023, the total number of residential units in Dubai stood at 820,172. Dubai saw over 39,400 units handed over in 2023, in line with Cushman & Wakefield’s forecast earlier this year. This is the highest number of handovers witnessed since 2020.
Apartments comprised over 83% of all 2023 deliveries while villas formed 17%. The low levels of new villa handovers are expected to continue applying upward pressure on villa sales prices and rents.
Looking at delivery by districts, Meydan One – situated in Mohammed Bin Rashid District – saw over 5,556 units delivered and accounts for the highest share of handovers in a district in 2023. Both Downtown Dubai and Business Bay saw over 3,900 units handed over, the report update found.
Major apartment deliveries in 2023 were Aykon City in Business Bay, The Address Residences Dubai Opera in Downtown Dubai, and Surf at Creek Beach at Dubai Creek Harbour.
Notable villa projects handed over in 2023 include Elan in Tilal Al Ghaf, Cherrywoods in Dubai Land, and Joy Townhouses in Arabian Ranches 3.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, Emaar led supply handovers comprising 26% of all handovers in 2023, while Azizi at 15% overtook Damac at 8% which had been the second largest developer by handovers in the recent years.
In 2024, while there are over 65,000 units slated for handover, the firm’s conservative estimates for 2024 are at around 32,000 units, of which 76% are expected to be apartments and 24% villas. Nearly 12% of these handovers are expected in Meydan One followed by Business Bay (10%) and Downtown Dubai (6%).
As per KHDA, in 2023, schools saw a 12% increase in enrolments, with an additional 39,000 students enrolling in private schools in Dubai – indicating a potential increase in demand from young families.
Dubai is continuing to witness strong population growth with an addition of 100,240 residents in 2023, and as per Dubai Statistics Center, Dubai currently has over 3.65 million residents.
With the 2040 Dubai Urban Master Plan, the city’s resident population is expected to increase to 5.8 million by 2040. That reflects an increase of over 2.15 million residents in the next 17 years.
With an approximate household size of 4.2, Dubai would need to deliver nearly 30,000 residential units consistently every year until 2040 to cater to this growing population, the report update highlighted.
