Dubai’s leading real estate brokerage, Allsopp & Allsopp worked well remotely through the Covid-19 lockdown across the city of Dubai from April 4th to April 25th and completed 677 virtual viewings, 472 virtual market appraisals and have registered 1,117 buyers and 971 tenants, showing a continued strong intent from buyers and tenants alike.
Allsopp & Allsopp’s team of agents have only recently conducted physical viewings and market appraisals since these were drawn to a halt on April 4th when the 24hr sterilisation process came into play, however, during this time they worked tirelessly to implement ways in which to service clients effectively without breaching health and safety.
During the 24hour sterilisation process Allsopp & Allsopp agents were conducting virtual property viewings. 360 degree property tours of the majority of Allsopp & Allsopp’s listings were already taken prior to the sterilisation process and have been a staple in the way they market properties for over a year now. These 360 tours have made virtual viewings doable by using screen sharing technology to show viewers the real life property room by room as they would see it on a physical viewing
Lewis Allsopp CEO of Allsopp & Allsopp says “I have been really impressed with how robust the Dubai real estate market has been during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout the sterilisation process. I am very proud of the Allsopp & Allsopp team for coming together and creating and adapting to the new virtual ways of doing business which were unheard of 6 weeks ago accelerating Dubai’s property industry in a tech era.
He continues “Allsopp & Allsopp have been working closely with banks and the Dubai Land Department to assist in arranging virtual transfers of properties for sellers and buyers, again, something that was unheard of pre Covid-19.
Being pushed into a social distancing environment has accelerated our use of technology which will have a great long term impact on the Dubai property market”
With the 24hour sterilisation process reduced from 10pm – 6am, Allsopp & Allsopp are continuing to abide by government instructions. Physical viewings are now taking place with extra safety precautions and social distancing practices with all viewing participants wearing masks and gloves and abiding to the social distancing measures.
The real estate company faced different challenges throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and sterilisation process.
Lewis Allsopp explains “The pandemic has forced many countries to close their borders to visitors, the UAE being one of them. This has caused many issues with property transfers that were pending and for newer transactions as overseas buyers and sellers were no longer permitted entry and are still, up to this point, unable to return to the UAE. This has caused delays in the transferring of properties and, in some cases, the addition of adding power of attorneys to aid in the time taken to complete the transaction. Allsopp & Allsopp made changes to our Memorandum of Understanding documents (MOU) to allow for a delay in the transaction.
Allsopp & Allsopp conducted a survey amongst a number of buyers to find out their motivation for buying. Surprisingly, out of 70% of first-time buyers, only 20% of those said that they had bought a property because of the 5% increase of the loan to value mortgage. The increase was introduced by the Central Bank of the UAE as part of the UAE government’s AED 1 billion stimulus package.
Lewis Allsopp, CEO of Allsopp & Allsopp says “It is hugely encouraging to learn that buyers are in the market without the encouragement of the increase in loan to value. This shows that there is confidence in the Dubai property market. For those buyers taking advantage of the loan to value mortgage, they have been saving up for a property and this has given them the opportunity to step onto the property ladder sooner than they had expected which means that they will save money on rent and start investing in their very own home earlier than planned.”
The most notable sales which came from virtual viewings was a C1 villa in The Nest in Al Barari for AED 7,000,000, a Mirador La Coleccion in Arabian Ranches for AED 4,600,000, a Marina Residence apartment for AED 3,150,000 and a Hillside villa in Jumeirah Golf Estates for just shy of AED 25,000,000.