Dubai’s mortgage market enjoyed a record year last year, with the total number of mortgage deals registered with the Dubai Land Department hitting 19,520, surpassing the previous all-time high seen in 2017 by 26%.

The total value of mortgage transactions hit Dh127.82 billion in 2021, whilst there was a year-on-year rise in mortgage volumes by 51% and 46% in value, according to Property Finder Group’s Mortgage Finder division.

Q1 2021 recorded the highest number of mortgage registrations in one quarter, with January the most robust month of the year, totalling 3,004 mortgage transactions valued at Dh20.82 billion.

Furthermore, the market was robust over the year, says a Khaleej Times report, with Q4 boasting 4,187 mortgage registrations, a 10% rise over Q4 2020 and 21% more than Q4 2019.

December remained steady compared to past years, with just a 1.3% rise in mortgage registrations compared to 2020 and 3.8% over 2019. With a value of Dh10.08 billion, there were 1,178 mortgage registrations registered in December last year.

There has been a significant rally in the market following the H1 2020 slump during stringent lockdown measures. Since restrictions have been eased, the mortgage market has enjoyed an uptick which remained during 2021. The number of mortgage transactions last year rose 57% compared to 2019.

“The growth seen in 2021 can be attributed to several factors which all aligned to make an impact on our industry; from the various large scale events which took place in the UAE, like Expo 2020, bringing more people into the country; to the major reform in loan-to-value ratios in 2020, which made buying more affordable for many; and finally the continued low-interest-rate environment,” according to Mohamed Kaswani, Managing Director at Mortgage Finder.

The UAE’s central bank reduced the deposit required for first-time buyers in 2020 by 5%, making it 20% for non-UAE nationals and 15% for nationals.

Kaswani added: “The reduction in down payment requirements for first-time buyers, coupled with the generally low-rate environment made buying much more achievable for some people. With fixed rates available from as little as 1.99% and the lending rate sitting at just 2.39%, compared to 2019 where the leading product rate was 3.75%, buyers were able to take advantage of excellent mortgage offers to get onto the housing ladder.”