Abu Dhabi's real estate market has witnessed marginal declines in both values and rents during the first three months of the current year. This was however buoyed by a 22 percent increase in transactions and mortgage values which rose to Dh19.2 billion ($5.22 billion), according to Chestertons, a global real estate services company. Off-plan sales in some of the capital's most sought after locations, including Al Reem Island, Saadiyat Island and Al Reef collectively accounted for over half of the total transaction value, Trade Arabia reported on Wednesday. A range of favourable developer-led off-plan payment options, and the more recent revival of rent-to-own schemes, have piqued the interest of potential buyers, stated Chestertons in its Abu Dhabi Market Report the first quarter of 2020 report. Overall, the capital's real estate market continued to see declines in both values and rents, although at a slower pace. Average apartment sales prices declined by 1.2 percent and villas by 1.8 percent. In the rental market, apartments witnessed decline of 1 percent, while villas fell by just 0.6 percent during the first quarter, the report added. Chris Hobden, the head of strategic consultancy, Chestertons Mena, said: “Government reforms introduced over 2019, such as the Golden Card residency scheme and the granting of foreign ownership rights across investment zones, have undoubtedly had a positive impact on the capital's real estate market in the first quarter.” "While we expect recent support packages from both UAE and Abu Dhabi authorities, coupled with landlord relief measures, to go some way to support the real estate market, Covid-19's impact is set to create headwinds, especially for the rental sector, near-term," noted Hobden. In the sales market, Chestertons pointed out that the apartment prices continued their legacy of decline although at a much slower rate of 1.2 percent. Al Reef and Al Reem Island were the standout performers showing little to no price change at Dh765 per sq ft and Dh950 per sq ft respectively. In contrast, Al Raha Beach Area witnessed the highest declines, with average apartment prices falling 1.6 percent to Dh1,230 per sq ft. Al Ghadeer and Saadiyat also witnessed declines to Dh715 per sq ft and Dh1,380 per sq ft, respectively. In the villa market, similarly to apartments, Al Raha Beach Area recorded the highest declines and was also the only community to fall by more than the quarterly average of 2 percent, to reach Dh1,070 per sq ft. More positively, the decrease was less than half of that experienced in Q4 when the area witnessed sales price declines of 5 percent, said the report. According to Chestertons, the strongest performing locations were Al Ghadeer and Al Raha Gardens, which both witnessed declines of just 1.4%, with average prices of Dh685 and Dh690 per sq ft, respectively. Average prices at Khalifa City stood at Dh845 per sq ft, down from Dh860 per sq ft the previous quarter, with average prices at Al Raha Gardens falling from Dh700 to Dh690 per sq ft, she added.
