Dubai’s property market absorbed a return of regional tensions in August without missing a step. Buying intent climbed, prices edged higher, and the only thing that softened was what buyers expected prices to do next.
Property Finder released its latest Market Pulse report today, a bi-monthly poll of active property seekers on the platform. Of 4,113 respondents surveyed across July and August, roughly 69 per cent said they planned to buy within six months. The share rose from 68 per cent in July to 71 per cent in August, with that strengthening coming in the same weeks regional tensions dominated the headlines.
“The real test came in August. Regional tensions returned to the headlines, expectations reacted, and demand did not. Buying intent rose to 71% and the median price per square foot climbed to AED 1,301 over the same period. When a market takes a geopolitical knock and buyers keep moving, the demand underneath is structural, not speculative. That is the signal for anyone weighing an entry into Dubai real estate today,” Cherif Sleiman, Chief Revenue Officer at Property Finder said in a statement.
Prices moved in the same direction. The median price per square foot rose from AED 1,271 in July to AED 1,301 in August. Sentiment, however, did shift at the margins: late in August, the share of buyers expecting prices to fall ticked up, a short-term reaction to the news flow rather than a change in what buyers were actually doing.
That caution fits inside a longer pattern of fading hesitancy. Among those planning to buy, the share expecting a price decline has dropped from a March high of 73 per cent to around 53 per cent across July and August. Most buyers still anticipate a dip. Far fewer appear willing to wait for one.
