Dubai Marina has retained its title as the city’s most popular property hotspot for those looking to rent or buy, new data from real estate website propertyfinder.ae has found.
The waterside project accounted for more than 18 percent of searches among would-be buyers in the fourth quarter, the Dubai-based website said, and 18.02 percent of rental hunts.
Second in the rankings was the luxury Palm Jumeirah project, attracting 12 percent of buyers. For those looking to rent, Jumeirah Lake Towers was the second most popular spot with 8.58 percent of searches, the website said.
Least popular among potential buyers was Jumeirah, with less than two percent of enquiries, with The Lakes and Green Community notching up a fraction more hits.
For renters, Dubai Silicon Oasis, International City and Dubai Land attracted the least attention, with each notching up less than 2.5 percent of online enquiries.
The findings were based on around 600,000 visits to the site, carried out in the three months to December 31, 2010.
Among buyers, the single most popular price band was up to AED2.5m, however, the gross majority of searches targeted properties at AED1m or under.
“We may begin to see better investment strategies rather than simply opting for the lowest price,” the report said. “Stern price caps are still the norm for investors in Q4.”
Renters had tighter purse strings, the data showed, with the top five price searches all aimed at property costing AED100,000 or less per year.
“Anything over AED150,000 has diminished immensely in Q4 searches,” the report said. “More and more people are looking under AED50,000.
“Patterns clearly indicate 2011 searches will continue to drop in price range values.”
Enquiries for properties tagged at more than AED200,000 a year were almost nonexistent.
More than a third of buyers were scouting for an apartment, while 25 percent viewed villas.
“Two-bedroom [properties] lead clearly in most scales,” the website said, “while studios are almost non-existent in searches.”
Land searches dropped by half compared to the previous quarter.
Renters also favoured apartments, with 39.13 percent of searches targeting flats.
‘Two and three-bedroom units top the search exclusively now,” the report showed. “Studios are barely looked at, at best.”
Arabian Business
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