RIYADH: Dubai’s residential real estate market recorded its highest ever number of transactions in the first four months of 2023, according to a report by a global consultancy firm. A total of 36,946 deals were logged across the period — a 43.2 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to CBRE’s Dubai Residential Market Snapshot. The year-on-year increase for April alone was 16.2 percent, underpinned by a 42.5 percent increase in off-plan market sales, whilst secondary market sales dropped by 2.4 percent. In the year to April 2023, average prices increased by 14.5 percent, a move in keeping with the broader picture across the region, with Saudi Arabia seeing real estate values edging up 1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same period a year ago, according to released by the General Authority for Statistics in April. Taimur Khan, Head of Research for the Middle East and North Africa at CBRE in Dubai, described the city’s residential market as “steadfast,” adding: “That being said, on a monthly basis, a deceleration in activity levels has been witnessed following the record figure registered in March 2023.” He went on: “To put recent price growth into perspective, average prices in all villa communities and in 72.7 percent of apartment communities that CBRE monitors now sit above their 2019 levels (as at April 2023). “Looking at the rental market, we have started to see a slight moderation, where the growth rate has tapered off for the third consecutive month. “Average rents increased by 25.8 percent in the year to April 2023, down from 26.3 percent a month earlier.” According to CBRE, the average price of an apartment in Dubai as of April 2023 is 1,256 dirhams ($342) per square foot, while the average price of a villa was 1,484 dirhams per square foot. CBRE stated in its report that the “average apartment sales rates across Dubai still sit at 15.6 percent below the record levels registered in late 2014.” Average rents rose by 25.8 percent in the year to the end of April 2023, with average rents for apartments and villas rising by 25.7 percent and 26.1 percent respectively. In April 2023, the average rent for an apartment was 102,675 dirhams and for a villa it stood at 308,616 dirhams. The Palm Jumeirah area and Al Barari had the highest average yearly rates for apartments and villas, each at 263,762 dirhams and 1 million dirhams.