by Infra Gulf 
Investors and businesses in the UAE have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the year ahead. The UAE real estate sector can remain strong in 2023, say real estate analysts.
Despite macroeconomic volatilities impacting the global real estate landscape, the UAE witnessed strong momentum in the last quarter of 2022, signaling a steady growth pipeline in 2023.
In the same context, the UAE 2022 Year in Review report offers a rear-view mirror perspective of 2022 while underlining the opportunities that lie ahead in the year.
2022 has been a year of sustained growth for the UAE’s real estate sector as it continued to gather pace while benefiting from the country’s reliable economic policies, excellent infrastructure, safe haven status, and innate ability to adapt to new trends.
Even segments like retail that faced headwinds initially in the year, recovered significantly in the last quarter. Looking ahead, we can expect the UAE to continue to attract the attention of both regional and international investors with aspirational offerings within the sector.
Residential transaction activity in Dubai continued to grow robustly last year. Data from Dubai Pulse further demonstrates that transaction volumes in the emirate were up 51% between January and November 2022 while the value of transactions rose by 55%.
In 2023, the level of scheduled completions will be a little higher (41,000 units) in Dubai and the capital is slated to see the planned completion of 6,000 units.
In annual terms, average residential sales prices were up 10% and 3% in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, respectively, in Q4 2022. Though rents in Dubai grew by 27% over the same period, they largely remained flat in the capital. On the back of increased demand, the pipeline of projects announced by developers in 2022 grew to 27,000 units; these will be delivered over the coming years.
However, it is worth noting that investors and end-users are generally making more informed decisions and are more selective when considering which properties to purchase. Therefore, developers need to differentiate their products from competitors and deliver units of a better standard. After a prolonged downturn in Dubai office rents, the sector saw a remarkable turnaround last year
