Property sales and transactions slow down in Dubai during Ramadan. This is a myth. With the holy month falling during summer, which traditionally sees a lull, for the past few years, there has been a common perception that Ramadan dents demand for property sales and other transactions in Dubai. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
David Godchaux, CEO of Core Savills, said: “One of the key reasons is seasonality. The holy month has fallen during the hot summer months over the last few years, and it has induced a bias in market players’ perceptions as these months coincided with the period of the year that typically sees lower activity levels.”
As Ramadan moves away from summer over the next few years, the holy month is unlikely to be cited as a factor which will impact property transactions negatively.
“Ramadan has fallen during the summer months over the past four years.Due to the heat and shortened working days, people spend more time at home and have excess time to search online. Consumers are spending more free time browsing the web on their mobiles, tablets, laptops, desktops and even their smart TVs.”
The slowest months on average have been August, followed by September and October since 2010. Transactions peak towards the end of March, as well as June and December – which represent the end of Q1, Q2 and Q4 respectively.
Performance in March and December have an amplified effect due to financial year closures, while June’s peak is attributed to sellers and buyers attempting to make transactions before the summer lull.
Godchaux said: “We expect Ramadan to be a better performer than previous years due to its early start in 2017. We also expect the number of transactions to fall early July [due to the start of school holidays and the hot season] until the usual recovery in sales volumes as of early September.”
