Sharjah reports $3.3bn in real estate transactions in H1
May sees biggest rise in year-on-year trading volumes, while there is a minor fall in transactions in first six months of 2016
The total value of real estate transactions in Sharjah in the first half of the year amounted to AED12.1 billion ($3.3bn) across 25,474 deals, according to figures revealed by the Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department.
In a statement issued by the department, its general director Abdul Aziz Ahmed Al Shamsi said May was the standout month for the emirate’s real estate sector. The month witnessed a 114% increase in the total volume of real estate trading, returning a figure of AED3.4 billion compared with AED1.6 billion in the same month in 2015.
The total number of transactions for the first half of 2016 dropped by 624, however, over the 25,850 recorded for the same period last year.
Al Shamsi said there were 14,411 ownership certificate transactions, 8,165 title deed transactions, 1,943 mortgage transactions and 955 for valuations. This last category showed a high increase of 35.8% year-on-year, he added.
While 1,137 mortgage transactions were conducted in the first half of this year, up 42.5% over the same period last year, redemption transactions rose by 30.2%. Mortgage-increase transactions, meanwhile, fell by 57.5% year-on-year.
The number of sales transactions amounted to 1,860, including 1,665 in Sharjah City, which accounted for 89.5% of the total, the department’s statement added. These sales transactions covered 102 areas in Sharjah City, with Al Khan maintaining its lead with 240 transactions, followed by Al Majaz 3 with 173 transactions, Sajaa Industrial Area with 159, Al Nahda with 111 and Muwaileh Commercial District with 105 transactions. The remaining 877 transactions were carried out in other areas in the city.
In Khorfakkan and Dibba Al Hisn, some 95 sales transactions were conducted in 19 areas, led by Khorfakkan’s Al Haray Commercial Area with 23 transactions, followed by Al Haray Industrial Area with 16 and Al Bardi 2 with 12. Kalba saw 100 sales transactions, including 24 in Kalba Industrial Area and 19 in Sour Kalba Commercial Area. The remaining were in 20 other areas in the city.
The statement added that residential areas accounted for the majority of sales transactions in the first half of this year, accounting for 56.3% with 1,048 deals. Commercial areas contributed 21.7% with 405 transactions and industrial areas accounted for 19.2% with 358. Agricultural areas contributed the remaining 2.6%.
A total of approximately 39.2 million square feet was sold, including idle and built-up plots of industrial, commercial, residential and agricultural land. In terms of apartments, the statement added, as many as 405 were traded in the period with a total area of 525,000 square feet
Al Shamsi revealed that during the first six months of 2016, the number of buyers in Sharjah from the GCC region reached 4,342, including 3,953 UAE nationals, who accounted for 91% of all GCC traders – a year-on-year drop of 5%. Kuwaiti investors came next with 196 buyers, accounting for 4.5%, followed by Saudis with 88 buyers accounting for 2%, Qataris taking a 1.3% share with 56 investors and Omanis and Bahrainis comprising a combined 1.2% with 23 and 26 buyers respectively.
Syrians led the non-GCC investors in the emirate with 109 buyers while Jordanians came in the second with 90 investors, followed by Palestinians at 64, Iraqis at 60 and Yemenis, Egyptians, Lebanese and Algerians making up smaller numbers. The numbers of units bought by non-GCC Arab investors rose 3.8%, however, with 993 units compared with 957 in the same period of 2015, the department’s statement added.
